In that case you could have Warren G. Harding as Second Chief Counsel. He'd only be in his early 60's.

Excellent suggestion! I can't believe I didn't consider that. It's his long-awaited reward for being a loyal party member since the 1890s. :D

Clandango

August 28th, 2013, 07:27 AM

Excellent suggestion! I can't believe I didn't consider that. It's his long-awaited reward for being a loyal party member since the 1890s. :D
Can you also give Calvin Coolidge his own radio show? Or make him a silent film star.

Napoleon53

August 28th, 2013, 07:31 AM

Can you also give Calvin Coolidge his own radio show? Or make him a silent film star.

Movies have had sound since the 1910s ITTL. Coolidge's already been in this TL as an officer during the Missionary War. I'm almost done with the Custer Dies chapter, and I wrote he succeeds Roosevelt as "Headmaster-Marshal Coolidge" of the Custer Youth Brigade. :D

Napoleon53

August 28th, 2013, 08:04 AM

Custer gets his just deserts, as promised!

BLACK CHRISTMAS: 1925
- THE DEATH OF GEORGE A. CUSTER -
http://www.pacificariptide.com/.a/6a00d8341c795b53ef01116910faf1970c-800wi
The Funeral Procession of George Custer in Philadelphia

"We need a doctor over here now!" one of Custer's butlers, Albert Johns, shrieked over the intercom to the other side of the Consular Mansion. Johns had just watched the 86 year-old Custer take a huge tumble from a flight of stairs and onto the hard tiled floor. The First Chief Consul was on the ground and was not responsive. "His Excellency has just fallen and he's not moving! Get over here now, darn it! Move it! And bring Mr. Bryan!"

Custer's private doctor, Miles Tyler, immediately cam running over with about two-dozen medical personnel. The 65 year-old Second Chief Consul William Jennings Bryan arrived about twenty minutes later. Doctor Tyler had Custer carefully moved to a nearby bedroom. Custer was awake after a bit, and howling in agony. The doctors concluded he had suffered severe head and brain trauma, a shattered hip, and two broken legs and broken nose. At his age, they knew he probably would not recover.

Custer's adopted son Joseph Steele, or Michael Custer as he was formerly known, arrived at the Consular Mansion late in the afternoon on December 24th, 1925, after a rushed flight back to Philadelphia from Mexico City. He sat with Bryan by Custer's bedside and tried to encourage him to stay alive.

"The Party needs you, father. You must fight. For the sake of America and Manifest Destiny, fight on," Steele said stoically.

Custer, though, reportedly soon after experienced a convulsion at 9:00 that night, and then several more over the next few hours. It grew worse, and Doctor Tyler said Custer suffered a massive seizure at 2 that morning that sent his system into a shock. "For two more agonizing hours, Custer lived on. The seizures came back every time they stopped. They grew more severe. We knew he had not long to live."

Although never released to the public, it is known that about ten minutes before he died, Custer began ranting, screaming "No! No!" as loud as he could, and he had to be held down by Steele and Tyler. It was a long and painful death, and Tyler said he "could not imagine the horrors going on in Custer's mind." At 6:01 AM on Christmas Day, 1925, Doctor Tyler stopped his pocket watch. George Custer, the man who changed the modern world forever, was no more. The First Chief Consul of the Republican Union, who was in his sixth six-year term in office, had died.

As part of the immediate succession laws of the Union, Bryan was taken to the main room of the Capitol Building in Philadelphia, where the state consuls and some military officers witnessed Bryan's swearing-in.

"I, William Jennings Bryan, do solemnly swear to devote all my personal strength and abilities to the advancement and prosperity of the Republican Union, to always abide by the Union Constitution and the laws of our country, to defend democracy, the fundamental rights and freedoms of the American man, and our sovereignty, independence, unity, purity, and territorial integrity. So help me God I do swear these things upon the Holy Gospels, my personal honor, and the honor of my beloved Party."

***

On Christmas Day, Uncle Sam's Talkiebox Station, the official Union talkiebox station, announced the event. Charles Dawes, the newsman for USTS, took to the airwaves and said, half-sobbing:

"This is a news alert. A sad day has come to the world. A Black Christmas. Our beloved First Chief Consul, Patriot Comrade George Armstrong Custer, defender of our liberties and destroyer of our enemies since 1891, suffered a fall at the Consular Mansion yesterday afternoon and has passed away this morning, Christmas Day, 1925. Second Chief Consul William J. Bryan has already been sworn in at the Capitol Building in Philadelphia and has declared a state of mourning for the next month. Plans are for our glorious leader to be buried at Patriots' Rest. A fitting monument will be constructed around his tomb, which Custer ordered built in 1910 to prepare for such a grim event as this. More news as it comes in. Somewhere up in Heaven, Comrade Patriot Custer looks down on us with pride. We salute you, dear commander. All hail Custer!"

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2888/9616833815_d29d0a3c53.jpg

The Station began to play "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," obviously referring to Custer "ascending into the heavens." It was followed by "Nearer My God to Thee." All over the nation, as soon as the news arrived, the church bells began to toll. The local talkiebox stations began playing funeral hymns. People gathered together in the streets from Durango to Boston to publicly mourn. And in the depths of the Inferior ghettos, people quietly and smugly celebrated their hated tyrant's demise. They made sure they didn't openly celebrate, though, which would undoubtedly mean their necks being stretched for treason.

When the news crossed the border into Columbia, Quebec, and Canada, there were parties in the streets. Tens of thousands gathered in downtown Richmond, firing guns into the air, waving flags, and burning portraits of Custer. Some held signs with crudely drawn pictures of Custer burning in Hell, while others screamed that the South should invade the Union now that their great leader was dead. The same types of celebrations started popping up in neighboring countries and Canada. Atlanta saw a huge mob of over 500,000 people gather in front of the National Capitol Building and set off fireworks.

The leaders of most of the world's major nations went into emergency councils with their advisers and parliaments and the like. Caesar Napoleon IV actually reportedly considered launching an all-out strike against the Union. This was an opportune moment; if he had indeed attacked the Union while it was trying to pick itself up after the devastating loss of Custer, the Union likely would have been destroyed. After a day of consideration, however, he decided against it. Scotland's fascist government sent an official letter to the Union government, expressing their condolences and wishing Bryan good luck. Scotland's Greer made arrangements to personally attend the funeral.

On December 29th, Bryan named 67 year-old Theodore Roosevelt, the long-time Headmaster-Marshal of the Custer Youth Brigade, as his new Second-Chief Consul. The man who replaced Roosevelt as head of the CYB was none other than Calvin Coolidge, Winston Churchill's college friend and hero of the Missionary War.

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQd7rStqUWK_Zcot8deeGVoqVAO4Abc4 cvVeBsf4tVDfrxFWX1z
Headmaster-Marshal Coolidge exits the Capitol Building amidst a crowd of mourners

http://www.milestonedocuments.com/images/content/documents/3c13662u_D.jpg
First Chief Consul William J. Bryan speaks before the leadership of the Manifest Destiny Party

http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_pictures/images/harding-05.jpg
Custer's body lies in state in the Capitol Building

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jjpershing-funeral-service-photo-07.jpg
Government and MDP officials gather at Custer's Tomb in Patriots' Rest

The funeral, held on January 3rd, 1926, was massive. Hundreds of vehicles were in the motorcade that bore his casket. Over three million people lined the streets. Bryan, Roosevelt, and Steele led the procession, and, along with Calvin Coolidge, Warren G. Harding, and General Pershing, where the pallbearers who carried Custer's flag-draped coffin to the front of the massive tomb, where the service was to be held. For over eight hours, one minister, official, and soldier after another came up to the podium to speak. The first speaker, Bryan, delivered the most lengthy speech, preaching about the "eternal glory of my good friend and comrade George Custer" for over two hours in the freezing cold.

It wasn't surprising that the weather harmed the elderly Theodore Roosevelt's health. He took ill that night and died on February 13th, 1926, after a bout with pneumonia. His funeral service was dominated by the Custer Youth Brigade, who flocked in the hundreds of thousands to see their old headmaster-marshal put six feet under. Warren G. Harding replaced him as Second Chief Consul. Bryan, although wheezy for a few days after Custer's funeral, was fine. He did announce that he would not seek reelection. Thus, he left the road to the position of First Chief Consul wide open to good old Joe Steele...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7290/9579438924_24a2698c46.jpg

Superman

August 28th, 2013, 11:35 AM

At least the RU seems to at least be wanting to maintain some semblance of democracy. It's like a worse OTL China. Nice update, but its a shame to see good old Teddy Roosevelt die in such an uninteresting way, even if he is evil. Just one correction, though. You accidentally wrote that Joe Steele's real name as Michael Custer instead of Matthew, if I remember correctly. If not, disregard this and carry on.

Clandango

August 28th, 2013, 12:43 PM

Movies have had sound since the 1910s ITTL. Coolidge's already been in this TL as an officer during the Missionary War. I'm almost done with the Custer Dies chapter, and I wrote he succeeds Roosevelt as "Headmaster-Marshal Coolidge" of the Custer Youth Brigade. :D
Can we have Taft as a sumo wrestler then?

Zoidberg12

August 28th, 2013, 01:54 PM

Another great update. Custer's death, while not as hilariously cartoonish as Goodyear's death, was still worthwhile and deserving of such an evil (at least IITL) figure. :D I actually think id be kinda hard to top Goodyear's death in terms of sheer cartoonish over the top-ness.

Interesting how the succession worked out. While evil TR was only Counsel for a month, at least be became Consul anyway (I just wanted to see that happen, because, well it's Teddy freaking Roosevelt :D:p).

Since we have Joe Steele as First Chief Counsel by 1929, I wonder who he'll gain power by then. Maybe Bryan dies or something. But then there's Harding, so then they both die maybe? :eek:

Also Superman, Joe Steele's real name was mentioned as being Matthew Custer in the "March 5, 1890" chapter, but in every chapter with him after that his real name has been Michael Custer. I personally prefer Michael as his real fist name, mostly cause I'm just more used to it since its been used more I guess.

Superman

August 28th, 2013, 02:37 PM

Another great update. Custer's death, while not as hilariously cartoonish as Goodyear's death, was still worthwhile and deserving of such an evil (at least IITL) figure. :D I actually think id be kinda hard to top Goodyear's death in terms of sheer cartoonish over the top-ness.

Interesting how the succession worked out. While evil TR was only Counsel for a month, at least be became Consul anyway (I just wanted to see that happen, because, well it's Teddy freaking Roosevelt :D:p).

Since we have Joe Steele as First Chief Counsel by 1929, I wonder who he'll gain power by then. Maybe Bryan dies or something. But then there's Harding, so then they both die maybe? :eek:

Also Superman, Joe Steele's real name was mentioned as being Matthew Custer in the "March 5, 1890" chapter, but in every chapter with him after that his real name has been Michael Custer. I personally prefer Michael as his real fist name, mostly cause I'm just more used to it since its been used more I guess.
Never mind, then.

Zoidberg12

August 28th, 2013, 03:04 PM

I creating two new wiki pages. :D Are they satisfactory Napo? I admit they are a bit in a rough draft mode at the moment.

http://what-madness-is-this.wikia.com/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer

http://what-madness-is-this.wikia.com/wiki/Willard_Crawford

Napoleon53

August 28th, 2013, 06:10 PM

At least the RU seems to at least be wanting to maintain some semblance of democracy. It's like a worse OTL China. Nice update, but its a shame to see good old Teddy Roosevelt die in such an uninteresting way, even if he is evil. Just one correction, though. You accidentally wrote that Joe Steele's real name as Michael Custer instead of Matthew, if I remember correctly. If not, disregard this and carry on.

Thanks! I was actually inspired a bit by OTL China and USSR with the way they do "elect" the leaders, instead of them just taking power or inheriting it.

I admit I had a better idea at first with Roosevelt's death, but in the end it didn't work out. I was going to have him be murdered with an ice pick for opposing Steele, like Trotsky OTL. But, sadly, I couldn't think of a way for it to work, and I want to use FDR later on. :p

As for all the M. Custer stuff, wow, that was a stupid mistake by me. :p All right, official retcon: Michael Custer is his official name.

Another great update. Custer's death, while not as hilariously cartoonish as Goodyear's death, was still worthwhile and deserving of such an evil (at least IITL) figure. :D I actually think id be kinda hard to top Goodyear's death in terms of sheer

Since we have Joe Steele as First Chief Counsel by 1929, I wonder who he'll gain power by then. Maybe Bryan dies or something. But then there's Harding, so then they both die maybe? :eek:

Yeah, I knew it'd be bloody ridiculous trying to come up with anything more cartoonish than Goodyear for Custer's death, so I just gave him a slow, painful, humiliating end. :D

At the end of the last update, Bryan announced he wouldn't be seeking reelection. You can draw from that what you will; maybe they just know Steele would win no matter what or think he deserves the position, so they're not going to even bother opposing him in the next election. Or, maybe, they were told to drop out for the "benefit of their own health," if you know what I mean. ;) There still might be some poor guy who tries to run against Steele, and you can only imagine what number of unfortunate events may befall him...

I creating two new wiki pages. :D Are they satisfactory Napo? I admit they are a bit in a rough draft mode at the moment.

http://what-madness-is-this.wikia.com/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer

http://what-madness-is-this.wikia.com/wiki/Willard_Crawford

Heck yeah! No one said anything about the wiki in a long time, so I thought people forgot about it. I may update soon, myself. :D I must say, I'm thinking about deleting the chapters I uploaded there and just using it for trivia and info pages, since Petike is assembling the list of chapters on the AH.com wiki. I could create a page named "Main Timeline" with his links as the centerpiece. :D It's too much work uploading every word and picture. :p

Zoidberg12

August 28th, 2013, 07:00 PM

^ Good to hear more pages are coming to the wiki. Also, I'm compiling this on a word document. :cool:

Napoleon53

August 28th, 2013, 07:21 PM

Also, I'm compiling this on a word document. :cool:

You are? As in, every chapter? I guess then there's always the possibility of one massive wiki page having the TL as a whole... :D Or it could be broken up into four to six or so pages. Having a page for every chapter like I did seems a bit much.

Zoidberg12

August 28th, 2013, 07:46 PM

You are? As in, every chapter? I guess then there's always the possibility of one massive wiki page having the TL as a whole... :D Or it could be broken up into four to six or so pages. Having a page for every chapter like I did seems a bit much.

I'm actually going to try and turn into a PDF file.

Napoleon53

August 28th, 2013, 07:51 PM

I'm actually going to try and turn into a PDF file.

Oh wait, yes, now I remember you talking about doing that! That sounds awesome. :D

Next chapter is Steel becoming First Chief Consul, everybody. Should be up today or tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a poster made by LordVetinari:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7383/9614512389_eccff14e5f_o.png

:D

Zoidberg12

August 28th, 2013, 08:00 PM

First, I love LordVetinari's poster (I may even have to make one :cool:), and second, it seems as if you've been doing daily updates Napo. At this rate the timeline will be finished in no time. :p:)

Napoleon53

August 28th, 2013, 08:13 PM

First, I love LordVetinari's poster (I may even have to make one :cool:), and second, it seems as if you've been doing daily updates Napo. At this rate the timeline will be finished in no time. :p:)

Well, it is addictive. :D It's just a short-term thing; I've had more free time lately, obviously, haha.

Napoleon53

August 29th, 2013, 02:21 AM

Here's another great poster brought to you by Lord Vetinari. I also edited it into the last chapter below Chuck Dawes broadcasting the news of Custer's Death. :D

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2888/9616833815_d29d0a3c53.jpg

traveller76

August 29th, 2013, 05:46 PM

Does the CYB have a female auxiliary like the Strength Through Joy movement?

Also, I would think over time the state would refer to itself as simply the Union instead of the RU.

AXlec

August 29th, 2013, 08:06 PM

It took me three days, but i read every post! I agree, this is probably the best TL on this site, and I LOVE the humor. That movie review of the Custer movie--can't remember its name :( was hilarious. And Goodyear falling off his blimp?! Awesome.

Also, Napoleon 53, you need to check out the USS Akron and USS Macon if you don't already know about them. they were real-life experiments in airship aircraft carriers, though I like your idea of "runways in the sky" better than the literal flying-trapeze arrangement of real life.

Keep up the AWESOME work, please!

Napoleon53

August 29th, 2013, 08:42 PM

Does the CYB have a female auxiliary like the Strength Through Joy movement?

Also, I would think over time the state would refer to itself as simply the Union instead of the RU.

Yep, in fact I was going to show more about the girls version of the CYB in the very chapter I'm working on now. :D

The RU does refer to itself as the Union in non-formal stuff, but it's still the official name of the country. Their official goal is to name themselves the New United States, which is what the MDP is working toward with religious fervor.

It took me three days, but i read every post! I agree, this is probably the best TL on this site, and I LOVE the humor. That movie review of the Custer movie--can't remember its name :( was hilarious. And Goodyear falling off his blimp?! Awesome.

Also, Napoleon 53, you need to check out the USS Akron and USS Macon if you don't already know about them. they were real-life experiments in airship aircraft carriers, though I like your idea of "runways in the sky" better than the literal flying-trapeze arrangement of real life.

Keep up the AWESOME work, please!

Wow, thanks a lot! :D I'm very glad you've enjoyed it so far. The movie was called "Rise of a Nation."

I actually did research the Akron and Macon and tried to figure out how to "fix" the idea. I'll admit, airship aircraft carriers in the early 1900s probably would fail badly in an actual war, but they haven't had a big war to test them yet. Thus, giving them time to research and make sure they don't have thousands of USS Akrons on their hands. :p

Will do!

Napoleon53

August 30th, 2013, 10:22 AM

Very long, very fun update. I'll probably do a sequel, with more stuff about government offices and the new "Unity League" idea I came up with but haven't mentioned yet. Also, expect a pyramid graph with the entire Union government of the 1930s on it. :D There's a CYB propaganda video I made linked under the CYB picture. Make sure you don't miss it. ;)

THE IRON STEELE
-"I TRUST NO ONE, NOT EVEN MYSELF"-
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7290/9579438924_24a2698c46.jpg
"The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force."
Joseph Steele, 1927

"It has made abundantly clear to us true God-fearing Christians that the End Times have come. Joseph Steele is the Antichrist! He is the Yankee Servant of Satan and he has come onto the world scene like a roaring lion, seeking out nations to devour. Beware of this man, for he is the spawn of Hell."

In 1927, William Jennings Bryan did not seek reelection. Bryan's Second Chief Consul Warren G. Harding went into a political freeze as he waited to see what would happen next. Joseph Steele, then 49 years old, would be the next First Chief Consul without doubt, but Harding wasn't sure what position he himself would get in a Steele government. The fiery orator went out campaigning for him, plugging Steele every chance he got. Harding might have been old, but he wasn't worn-out. In fact, Steele was so impressed he moved him up into his shortlist of possible Second Chief Consuls. Calvin Coolidge also went on this list, as well as Oshkosh mayor Robert Lafawlet II, State Consul Herbert Hoover of New York, and Teddy Roosevelt's cousin Franklin Martin Roosevelt, an industrialist who had recently founded a very successful autocarriage company. In the end, he chose Roosevelt.

Even though victory was assured and he was virtually unopposed (the only people who ran against him were off-brand local candidates and publicity stuntmen), Steele and Roosevelt went touring the nation, whipping up fervor for a new era of Union history. Steele's normally slow, soothing, father-like voice could reach a screaming pitch when he got to a topic of special interest. When he spoke about how the South was rightful American land by right of Manifest Destiny, for instance, his face grew red, his arms gestured angrily, and he shrieked. He was so intimidating, imposing, and attention-grabbing that many Southron preachers started calling him the Antichrist, especially Virginian Reverend Herbie Brant, who straight-up started an "Armageddon Preparedness League," which was essentially a doomsday cult. He claimed to have the power of prophecy, and he said he saw "Joe Steele, standing like a conquering king, treading on mankind's liberty, and fires consuming the land, with never-ending war until the Return of Christ" in his visions. Most wrote Brant off for the crackpot he was, but quotes like that hardly quieted Columbia's fear of the despotic lunatic about to become First Chief Consul.

On January 18th, 1927, 36 years to the day after Custer took over, Joseph Steele was sworn in by Bernard Svenson, the current Reverend-Colonel of the American Fundamentalist Christian Church, on an AFC-authorized Bible. Roosevelt followed suit soon after.

"I, Joseph Custer Steele, do solemnly swear to devote all my personal strength and abilities to the advancement and prosperity of the Republican Union, to always abide by the Union Constitution and the laws of our country, to defend democracy, the fundamental rights and freedoms of the American man, and our sovereignty, independence, unity, purity, territorial and religious integrity. So help me God I do swear these things upon the Holy Gospels, my personal honor, the honor of my beloved Manifest Destiny Party, and in the memory of Patriot Comrade Custer, hero of the most proletarian fascist American people. All hail."

Joseph C. Steele taking the Oath of Office of the First Chief Consul of the Republican Union

http://warnerbros.pbworks.com/f/fdr%20swearing%20in.jpg
Franklin Martin Roosevelt taking the Oath of Office of the Second Chief Consul of the Republican Union

"All hail! All hail! All hail!" chanted the throngs of onlookers. Fireworks went off over the Capitol Building, Consular Mansion, Independence Hall, the CYB Headquarters, and other government buildings in an elaborately choreographed light show. The bands struck up the new Consular March. Flags waved, people cheered, and all raised their hands in salute as Steele and Roosevelt walked down a long red carpet to their parade limousine. The Steele Era had begun...

All Hail to the Chiefs we have chosen for the nation,
All Hail to the Consuls! We salute them, one and all.
Hail to the Chief Consuls, as we pledge cooperation
In proud fulfillment of a great, noble call!

All Hail to the Chiefs, fathers of our nation,
All Hail to the Consuls! God bless their administration.
All Hail to the Chief Consuls, as we pledge cooperation
In proud fulfillment of a great, noble call!

Yours is the aim to make this grand union grander,
This you will do, that's our strong, firm belief.
All Hail to the two we selected as commanders,
Hail to the Second Chief Consul! Hail to the First!

***

When Steele officially started his duties the next day, film crews showed up in the so-called "Hex Room," the hexagon-shaped personal office in the Consular Mansion used by every past First Chief Consul for the past century, to get footage of Bryan and Steele shaking hands and exchanging well-wishes as the name plate on the desk was replaced and Steele's personal office paraphernalia was set up.

Thirty minutes after the filming stopped, things went back to business. Steele's advisers came pouring in and out in a never-ending line, briefing him on the matters at hand and government secrets, as well as his personal confidants making suggestions as to who should stay in their positions and who should go.

THE OHIO COUNTRY:

Even though the Old Republic had collapsed thanks to Adams and Hamilton trying to create a one-party state, Steele, a neurotic sociopath, intended on doing the same exact thing and wanted to make sure the Manifest Destiny Party would be the only party around. Though known only to a handful of high-ranking Union officials, one of the first things Steele did was to order the "handling" of several of his personal and political "problems." Some of these "problems" died in "car accidents," while others disappeared into the Ohio Country, never to be seen again, with nary an explanation given.

Pennsylvania's Ohio Country was quite secluded, and it had been used for decades for "reeducation camps." Only a few people were ever officially executed at these camps, and most where just held in miserable conditions for the rest of their natural lives. However, Steele approved plans for the construction of "ORRA Pacification Camps," where the most "worthless" Inferiors (those with families with a history of mental disorders, those who were sterile, and those who openly had expressed desire to act against the government), as well as Steele's personal enemies and sometimes those just suspected of being his enemies. Steele said to Joey Goebbels, one of his military advisers and an ORRA sky marshal at the Canadian border, "I trust no one, not even myself."

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS:

In the face of the foundation of CEMA, Steele wanted to strengthen the Union economy as much as possible to keep being competitive. He arranged for the end of the state-by-state currencies and the state-by-state treasuries as a whole. Instead, he moved all economic matters into the realm of the newly-created Department of the Treasury, spear-headed by none other than Colonel Charles Goodyear II (62 years old in 1927). Secretary Goodyear designed a new national currency, the decidedly federalistic Union Reserve Note. Ironically, the Union citizens had no problem with this Hamiltonian set-up, and they eagerly rushed to the banks to exchange their state-printed currency, which they saw as their patriotic duty to do. The Treasury set itself up in a brand new Roman-style complex in Philadelphia, unimaginatively called the Treasury Building.

http://freerisk.org/wiki/images/thumb/7/72/800px-US-Treasury-Large.png/500px-800px-US-Treasury-Large.png
The Treasury Building 1930

THE AEROFORCE:
http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/attachment.php?attachmentid=211102&stc=1&d=1376522195
The Aeroforce had been under a fuzzy, confusing administration by the Union Army since its conception, and sometime the Navy also took charge of some matters, especially with airships. Steele saw this was a huge waste of time and effort and the Aeroforce was finally made a completely separate branch of the military. The new Chief of the Aeroforce was Manfred Steiner, a personal friend of Steele's one of the original crew members of the Edward Everett Airship Flight of 1885. The 62 year-old had won the Order of Patriotic Brethren Medallion for the flight, but since then he had won a chest full of medals in the First Mexican War, Missionary War, Occupation of Korea, Annexation of Texas, and the Second Mexican War, and had also been awarded the title of Colonel, like the Goodyears. Colonel Steiner set out to make sure the Aeroforce had enough money coming in to keep the thousands of planes and airships--and the land vehicles needed for the runways and such--in good working order. His other priority was coordinating the construction of enough airports in the country to handle the operations that would be necessary in the event of war.

THE OFFICE OF RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS:
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2806/9604541104_c14e8b143d.jpg

The ORRA was and remained under personal orders from the First Chief Consul. Nevertheless, Steele realized it would be useful to appoint an underling to manage the daily affairs. He knew it would have to be someone utterly loyal and willing to follow any order. He saw those traits in native Bostonian Joey Goebbels, who Steele later referred to as an "unquestioning tool of the highest degree but also of unwaveringly loyal to me." Sky Marshal J. Goebbels became the first figurehead leader of the Office of Racial and Religious Affairs.

Upon assuming office, the ORRA head legally changed the spelling of his name to "Gobells," because "I am sick of my men calling me a gerbil and constantly misspelling it." It was actually not unusual; many, many people changed or simplified complex foreign names in the Union during this era. Also upon assuming office, Gobells secretly hunted down all evidence that his immigrant father, Fritz Goebbels, had been Catholic. Fritz had never openly professed Catholicism, and Joey joined an AFC church in college, so all he had to do was find his father's diary, which belonged to his brother Hans. In September of 1928, Hans Goebbels experienced a "burglary." Hans was shot in the chest four times and the house was ransacked. The "burglars," of course, where Joey's private mercenaries. They found the diary and brought it to Joey. When the mercenaries asked for payment, Joey personally stabbed both of them, burned the diary, and then buried their bodies in his cellar. Dead men tell no tales, after all. And burned books tell no professions of Catholic faith.

ORRA had a all-seeing network of spies within the Union, tracking down Inferiors and disrupting plots. They also built massive fences costing millions of dollars at the borders and patrolled them in their airships. They also had elite combat units that were considered the best of the best of all the other branches of service. One such elite unit was the "Joseph Steele's Consular Legion," the personal bodyguards of Joseph Steele. It was formerly known as the "George Custer Regiment of Foot." By the mid-1930s, it had been renamed yet again to "Joseph Steele's Own Mechanized Consular Legion," or the "JSO-MCL," due to the advent of landships and armored troop carriers.

THE MILITARY POLICE:
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7210/1491/1600/mp.jpg

The Military Police had essentially become the Union's version of the "national guard" sported by Virginia and Georgia. They not only fulfilled the duties of normal police officers, thereby taking most of the need for city and state police away, but they also were a military force, ready to "carry on the traditions of the Minutemen of Colonial Days" and fight with the borders of the Union if ever invaded. They were considered inferior to the normal Army soldiers and the ORRA units, both of which were ready to go on the offensive against any enemy in the enemy's own territory.

Steele put in Commander William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan of New York to replace the outgoing Samuel Brock as Chief of the Military Police. Chief Donovan was a hero of the Second Mexican War and had been with the 11th Legion at the Siege of Guadalajara, earning a total of 14 medals and decorations. In the late 1910s, he had joined the New York branch of the Military Police "because he was bored in peacetime" and had been shot twice in the line of duty against absinthe smugglers. He had gone up and up in the RUMP ranks since, and Steele knew he was the perfect choice for Chief.

Upon his appointment as Chief of the RUMP, Donovan began using new tactics against absinthe and human smugglers at the border and brought the Port Authorities under the administration of RUMP. Absinthe smuggling plummeted, and human smuggling stopped almost completely. Donovan personally disliked Joey Gobells, but he worked in coordination with the Great Lakes ORRA Airship Squadron to combat the Canadian-American mobs. In a daring assault, on October 7th, 1928, RUMP armored patrol boats engaged a small fleet of smuggler submarines and armored yachts. After capturing them with heavy casualties on both sides, they managed to rough them up enough to learn where the smugglers were basing themselves. Two hours later, the Great Lakes ORRA Airship Squadron was opening up a hellish barrage on a multimillion-dollar Canadian yacht, and they ended up killing Frank Scalleta, and Italian-Canadian mobster who was one of the most wanted men in the Union. For these actions, both Gobells and Donovan were awarded Hero of the Union Medals, the highest possible decoration in the Union military, and were made Colonels.

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/vintage-prohibition-photos-united-states-boston-5.jpg
Two RUMP vessels photographed from an ORRA airship over Lake Superior; to the far left can be seen part of Scalleta's yacht

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site140/2012/1107/20121107_101349_Prohibition1_500.jpg
RUMP Port Authorities posing with captured absinthe taken during the 1928 "Battle of Lake Superior"

THE CUSTER YOUTH BRIGADE:
http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/65/6535/F1C4100Z/posters/anonymous-wwii-hitler-youth-1936.jpg
"Bringing in the Sheaves, Bringing in the Sheeves..." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3cdC_HTxIQ)

Calvin Coolidge was an excellent Headmaster-Marshal, was loyal, and was relatively young, so Steele made sure to keep him. The CYB considered changing its name to the "Steel Youth Brigade," but Steele vetoed it, saying having the deceased Custer's name attached to it made it sort of a memorial to his "father." The CYB was a branch of the military, and Steele and Coolidge decided to press that fact even further, giving more rigorous combat training starting in late 1927. The CYB became Coolidge's little project and private hobby, and he lobbied for more and more money and resources, and in the end the CYB even had its own vehicles and small airships.

In 1929, the CYB finally caught up to the fad in Europe of steel helmets and became the first Union branch to adopt them, creating the CYB M29 Pot. The Army and RUMP thought this was a very good idea, relegating juice squeezer and kepi hats for non-combat duties and adopting the RU M30 Pot. An oddity with the CYB were their "great buffalo hunts" on the Great Plains, which were originally held because of Teddy Roosevelt's idea of "field trip;" "Hey, kids love shooting animals!" Buffalo fur hand-made "Teddy hats" became a trademark of the CYB under Coolidge and later became a part of the regular Army cold weather combat uniform.

Girls had always been a part of the CYB, but under Steele, their participation sky-rocketed. Taking a move from the playbooks of Russia, Greece, and Ireland, ironically all "Inferior" countries, the Union trained the girls aged 13 to 18 to fight. They were given the CYB M29 pots, Craig-Jordan M1901 rifles, and uniforms and trained to most of the same degree as the boy. Pants were a part of the combat and campaign dress, which was shocking by western standards. The female CYB regiments finally made it possible for the government to brainwash every child year-round, and not letting the little future housewives develop doubt in their summer vacation from public school. Now, every boy and girl would be a perfect little sockpuppet for the state. No parents in their right minds would try to preach subversive ideas to their children for fear of their own kids reporting them to "your friendly local ORRA office." Every non-Inferior Union child's life was surrounded by the CYB. From the time they got to the time they went to bed, every second of their day hinged on what Headmaster-Marshal Coolidge wanted. Most of the parents thought it was great, and many of them had been brainwashed by the CYB when they were young. From the pants, to the combat duties, to the arming of the women, nothing phased the public who looked at Steele almost like he was a god among them.

Napoleon53

August 30th, 2013, 08:50 PM

Wow, no comments? Anyone?

Anyway, I'm going to do the graph with all the Union government leaders from this era on it. Speak now to suggest your favorite northern-born historical figures from this period, or forever hold your peace. :p For instance, who would make a good Secretary of Education, Secretary of Agriculture, etc?

Superman

August 30th, 2013, 08:56 PM

Just wondering, do Mormons exist TTL?

Napoleon53

August 30th, 2013, 09:06 PM

Just wondering, do Mormons exist TTL?

Nope, they were butterflied, but you will see something similar in the future. :D

traveller76

August 30th, 2013, 10:33 PM

I wonder how the Union and the Southrons handle immigration from like Europe? I could see the Union advertising heavily in Western/Northern Europe among Protestants.

Plus if Steele is that adamant about enlarging the Union you might see more military research and development. The southern states may do the same.

Napoleon53

August 30th, 2013, 10:42 PM

I wonder how the Union and the Southrons handle immigration from like Europe? I could see the Union advertising heavily in Western/Northern Europe among Protestants.

Plus if Steele is that adamant about enlarging the Union you might see more military research and development. The southern states may do the same.

Good question. I'll cover more about immigration sometime in the near future. I haven't covered since way back in the 1840s, I think it was. For one, I'm sure plenty of hardline people disliking Denmark-Norway's modernization will head to the Union, especially to places like Michigania, where the weather is similar to back home.

In the 1930s, "landships" (tanks) will get invented, so expect to see a lot about those. I have a ton of ideas for them. :D

Zoidberg12

August 31st, 2013, 12:11 AM

Another great update. It was especially interesting hearing about all of the ins and outs of the Unions and government and military. :cool: Oh and Joseph Goebells as an American? And I thought this world was mad enough already? :eek::p

Here's are some famous northern politicians and northern Americans in general I'd like to see in the Unions govt. Some for now, some later;

Albert C. Barns; Secretary of Culture or education
Eleanor Roosevelt; head of the female wing of the CYB (If such a position exists)

The rest I'm not sure what exact positions they should have, so it's up to you.

Another great update. It was especially interesting hearing about all of the ins and outs of the Unions and government and military. :cool: Oh and Joseph Goebells as an American? And I thought this world was mad enough already? :eek::p

Here's are some famous northern politicians and northern Americans in general I'd like to see in the Unions govt. Some for now, some later;

Albert C. Barns; Secretary of Culture or education
Eleanor Roosevelt; head of the female wing of the CYB (If such a position exists)

The rest I'm not sure what exact positions they should have, so it's up to you.

Coolidge is in charge of all CYB organizations, but I might work Eleanor into some other position.

Lindbergh would make a good Chief of the Aeroforce when Manfred Steiner dies/retires.

Goldwater is possible, but it'll really kill tons of butterflies to make it work.

I already have a little bio already ready for Nixon. :D

Dirksen would make a good military officer.

Earl Warren was the son of Norwegian immigrants. Well, that obviously works. :D

Stassen works. I'll have to put him in somewhere.

I have something planned for Wilkie.

Robert Taft definitely works, since I had William Howard Taft as a Secretary of Education back in the early 1900s.

Thanks for the suggestions! I have quite a few ideas now.

Victor Hatherley

August 31st, 2013, 03:02 AM

What is the cuisine of the RU and the Columbian nations like?

traveller76

August 31st, 2013, 01:56 PM

>>One such elite unit was the "ORRA Joseph Steele's Own Housecarl Regiment of Foot," the personal bodyguards of Joseph Steele. It was formerly known as the "ORRA George Custer Regiment of Foot," but Steele changed it, influenced by old English lords and their housecarls. By the mid-1930s, it had been renamed yet again to "ORRA Joseph Steele's Own Mechanized Housecarl Regiment," or the "JSO-MHR," due to the advent of landships and armored troop carriers.<<

I remember seeing that terms Legion used a lot for the armed forces as a reference to the Roman Empire. I would think Joseph would have something like the Consular Legion or Consular Mechanized Legion to protect higher ranking officials instead of a monarchist sounding unit. Plus, would the ORRA or the Armed Forces have any sort of punishment legion for soldiers who had disgraced themselves in action?

Napoleon53

September 4th, 2013, 07:02 AM

Working on that chart, guys!

What is the cuisine of the RU and the Columbian nations like?

That's a good question, really. I hadn't considered it. I'd expect Union food would be like New England's OTL, or at least very, very similar. Eventually they probably incorporate dashes of Mexican stuff, but nothing too "un-American/Inferior." The South is probably almost exactly like OTL, with a little bit of Italian and Slavic flavoring (from the Catholic Italian immigrants and the Slavs who escaped across the border before ORRA locked it down). There's probably quite a bit of Slavic culture in the OTL Kentucky/Tennessee region.

I remember seeing that terms Legion used a lot for the armed forces as a reference to the Roman Empire. I would think Joseph would have something like the Consular Legion or Consular Mechanized Legion to protect higher ranking officials instead of a monarchist sounding unit.

Plus, would the ORRA or the Armed Forces have any sort of punishment legion for soldiers who had disgraced themselves in action?

Those sound really good. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll edit it with those. :)

Eventually, I did plan on having something like that, probably with Inferiors serving as expendable meatbags being pushed forward at gunpoint like Russian Shtrafbats in WWII OTL.

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 12:29 AM

This is supposed to be from around 1918. It could be considered an update in itself! :D This shows the basic ideas contained in the AFC Bible (just like the one Steele and Roosevelt were sworn in on).

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2832/9676952100_b42d89261f_o.png

traveller76

September 5th, 2013, 01:06 AM

What is the cuisine of the RU and the Columbian nations like?

I am thinking very meat and potatos with some salads. Game would be prized "this is how we cooked our steaks when I was in the Brigade". Hunting would be a right of passage for many. Lots of picked vegetables, eggs, stews from Slavic and European influences. Sausages and cured meats like the Germans. Hotdogs or Redhots at the ballgames.

Columbian/southron cooking would be more African/Caribbean influences. Fried foods/soul food with spices/New Orleans style restaurants in many cities. Cuisine may be a ticket of prosperity/respect for 'Inferiors'. 'They may be inferior but they can cook'. Even Union cities may have southron style cafes next to deli's and beerhouses if you are willing to venture into the bad side of town. Beer is common for most along with hard liquor for those willing to chance it/pay for it. Soda pop for the temperance/bible thumpers.

As for other Protestant faiths in America (Presbyterians, Methodists, etc.), I imagine they use the AFC Bible, while some other times the churches use there own. Still they'd be encouraged by the RU government to use the AFC Bible, even though not officially part of the AFC. This I see would be how the AFC and other Protestants faiths in the RU would be connected.

One question; when are we going to get to Winston Churchill's full back story? We saw how he was inspired to be a fascist in 1890, and we know by 1930 he's the head of some fascist party in England, but what happened between that time?

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 01:41 AM

I am thinking very meat and potatos with some salads. Game would be prized "this is how we cooked our steaks when I was in the Brigade". Hunting would be a right of passage for many. Lots of picked vegetables, eggs, stews from Slavic and European influences. Sausages and cured meats like the Germans. Hotdogs or Redhots at the ballgames.

Columbian/southron cooking would be more African/Caribbean influences. Fried foods/soul food with spices/New Orleans style restaurants in many cities. Cuisine may be a ticket of prosperity/respect for 'Inferiors'. 'They may be inferior but they can cook'. Even Union cities may have southron style cafes next to deli's and beerhouses if you are willing to venture into the bad side of town. Beer is common for most along with hard liquor for those willing to chance it/pay for it. Soda pop for the temperance/bible thumpers.

That sounds awesome. :D Yeah, this is pretty much spot-on. I may use it for references later. :cool: Quite soon I'll introduce soda, especially "Cokie-Cola:"

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3715/9300129252_ceb1d96041_z.jpg

As for other Protestant faiths in America (Presbyterians, Methodists, etc.), I imagine they use the AFC Bible, while some other times the churches use there own. Still they'd be encouraged by the RU government to use the AFC Bible, even though not officially part of the AFC. This I see would be how the AFC and other Protestants faiths in the RU would be connected.

One question; when are we going to get to Winston Churchill's full back story? We saw how he was inspired to be a fascist in 1890, and we know by 1930 he's the head of some fascist party in England, but what happened between that time?

Most of the other churches will use their traditional versions, especially the KJV. They won't force the other denominations to use the AFC version; if they force the usage, there would be revolution and it would collapse the country. :eek:

Oh, don't worry, I've been planning Winnie's reappearance. We haven't gotten to him yet simply because he takes power in the 1930s, and we're only at 1930 at the moment. When we get to him, I'll give an update on everything he's been up to since going with Coolidge to the Coliseum in Shicagwa. :D

autonomousoblast

September 5th, 2013, 02:21 AM

Have you made seals for the disparate American nations yet? I could if not, what do you say?

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 02:30 AM

Have you made seals for the disparate American nations yet? I could if not, what do you say?

Only Virginia I think I have done. That'd be great if you could do some! I gave a rough idea of the Union seal a couple pages back when you did the medals. The Carolinas could probably have something with Andrew Jackson I riding a horse, like George Washington OTL on the CSA seal. For the others, feel free to pitch me ideas, as I don't really have any other clever/suiting ones.

autonomousoblast

September 5th, 2013, 02:35 AM

Only Virginia I think I have done. That'd be great if you could do some! I gave a rough idea of the Union seal a couple pages back when you did the medals. The Carolinas could probably have something with Andrew Jackson I riding a horse, like George Washington OTL on the CSA seal. For the others, feel free to pitch me ideas, as I don't really have any other clever/suiting ones.

For a really religious nation, a aptly religious symbol would probably be on (unlike the secular U.S. seal) like perhaps Christ carrying the cross, or one of the angels or something similar. And R.U. has to have a eye of providence around since I already made it into it's roster of symbols.

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 02:54 AM

Eye of Providence for sure. I found my little idea from a few pages back:

It's probably the eagle from the aquilae you designed a while back (http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2812/8907719164_319c7f2914_c.jpg)with a facses in its claws. Maybe with a circle of stars and an all-seeing eye looking down on it. That's how I'm picturing it anyway. And yep, a star would probably work best, maybe set in a circle.

Something like that. If there's something else overtly Protestant Christian in the seal, it should probably be something fairly subliminal, like perhaps a cross is actually the hilt of a sword being held by an eagle or something, that sort of thing.

autonomousoblast

September 5th, 2013, 03:01 AM

Eye of Providence for sure. I found my little idea from a few pages back:

Something like that. If there's something else overtly Protestant Christian in the seal, it should probably be something fairly subliminal, like perhaps a cross is actually the hilt of a sword being held by an eagle or something, that sort of thing.

That seems too strange, obviously the seal would spare no expense to be as religious as possible, but Jesus carrying a sword seems too strange, maybe you can draw up a draft that explains how it would go together? Maybe the inclusion of Saint Gabriel blessing an important R.U. figure or something? That'd fit and would not look too strange if I were to see that in Bioshock infinite! Maybe you can render all the people in the form of some racial ideal, that'd be subversive.

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 03:04 AM

That seems too strange, obviously the seal would spare no expense to be as religious as possible, but Jesus carrying a sword seems too strange, maybe you can draw up a draft that explains how it would go together?

Where'd you get "Jesus" carrying a sword? I thought I said eagle, haha.

Anyway, yeah, I can whip up a crappy Paint doodle showing general placement. :D

autonomousoblast

September 5th, 2013, 03:09 AM

Where'd you get "Jesus" carrying a sword? I thought I said eagle, haha.

Anyway, yeah, I can whip up a crappy Paint doodle showing general placement. :D

What about the ideas above in my edited post? Think that'd work?

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 03:19 AM

What about the ideas above in my edited post? Think that'd work?

The Saint Gabriel idea is neat, but it might look too Catholic-y for the RU. They'd be more likely to represent Gabriel in an unrecognizable form, like an Alexander the Great-looking/ancient warrior chap or as simply an orb of power than as a recognizable "St. Gabriel" with the extremely Catholic wings and/or halo that would make it identifiable.

I'm whipping up the rough idea for the seal right now. Should only be a few minutes. :)

autonomousoblast

September 5th, 2013, 03:21 AM

The Saint Gabriel idea is neat, but it might look too Catholic-y for the RU. They'd be more likely to represent Gabriel in an unrecognizable form, like an Alexander the Great-looking/ancient warrior chap or as simply an orb of power than as a recognizable "St. Gabriel" with the extremely Catholic wings and/or halo that would make it identifiable.

I'm whipping up the rough idea for the seal right now. Should only be a few minutes. :)

I don't think those depictions of archangels are too "Catholic-y" :p perhaps in TTL such depictions are used more and more in protestant usage as to it being not Catholic at all?

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 03:28 AM

I don't think those depictions of archangels are too "Catholic-y" :p perhaps in TTL such depictions are used more and more in protestant usage as to it being not Catholic at all?

You may be right, and I may have an idea that would feature an archangel on the reverse of the seal. :D Just a couple minutes; almost done with the (very) rough draft.

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 03:53 AM

Okay, this is REALLY rough. I in no way intended this to be presentable, just a map of placement. :p It's just a general idea.

The cross and fasces are obviously just hilariously over-sized examples to show placement. It's up to you how they look.
The shield on the small golden eagle clutching the globe should also be on the main eagle grasping the fasces and cross, instead of the pointy square one it has now.
The golden eagle is ridiculously over-sized, but it'd be neat to have it clutching the globe in that same art-deco-looking design, symbolizing the increasingly global domination-manifest destiny mentality that's becoming increasingly popular with RU hardliners.The blue reverse part with the globe and all that would probably be a modern invention of the Steele administration, so it fits.
The Eyes of Providence can be whatever style you want.
The bottom of the blue part should say "1801."
A ribbon in the main eagle's mouth should say "Manifestum Fati"
Feel free to recolor anything, like the yellow-and-blue ribbon below the globe. And I mean ANYHTHING. This is all just rough approximation. You can do anything you want, really.
You could probably replace Liberty (holding the liberty cap on a staff) possibly with a Gabriel type. Still not sold on it, though, as Lady Liberty is an American symbol in this still. Justice seems like it would still fit with TTL, with the addition of a cross to the scales to show they "judge everything blindly based on God's Judgement." Which would mean an AFC Bible. :p
That's about it. If you think anything would look better some other way, go right ahead and propose it. :)

autonomousoblast

September 5th, 2013, 03:58 AM

Okay, this is REALLY rough. I in no way intended this to be presentable, just a map of placement. :p It's just a general idea.

The cross and fasces are obviously just hilariously over-sized examples to show placement. It's up to you how they look.
The shield on the small golden eagle clutching the globe should also be on the main eagle grasping the fasces and cross, instead of the pointy square one it has now.
The golden eagle is ridiculously over-sized, but it'd be neat to have it clutching the globe in that same art-deco-looking design, symbolizing the increasingly global domination-manifest destiny mentality that's becoming increasingly popular with RU hardliners.The blue reverse part with the globe and all that would probably be a modern invention of the Steele administration, so it fits.
The Eyes of Providence can be whatever style you want.
The bottom of the blue part should say "1801."
A ribbon in the main eagle's mouth should say "Manifestum Fati"
Feel free to recolor anything, like the yellow-and-blue ribbon below the globe. And I mean ANYHTHING. This is all just rough approximation.
You could probably replace Liberty (holding the liberty cap on a staff) possibly with a Gabriel type. Still not sold on it, though, as Lady Liberty is an American symbol in this still. Justice seems like it would still fit with TTL, with the addition of a cross to the scales to show they "judge everything blindly based on God's Judgement." Which would mean an AFC Bible. :p
That's about it. If you think anything would look better some other way, go right ahead and propose it. :)

I really wanted a R.U. figurehead kneeling in front of Archangel Gabriel herself, and that'd go in the middle of the seal, maybe that'd be the obverse side? I don't want to make a redux of the OTL great seal too much.

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 04:07 AM

EDIT: The main part with the brown eagle would probably be intended by its designers ITTL to be similar to OTL USA's. The back, blue coat-of-arms part would be their own thing, though.

Gabriel herself? I always read Gabriel's a "he". Maybe it was just because I was Baptist Protestant growing up. :p And since I was a stereotypical Baptist Protestant, a lot of others probably think Gabriel's a he, too, which wouldn't sit well with hardline Baptists and such in the RU (AFC probably don't care either way). So in other words, I guess Gabriel's kind of out for the main seal because it would trigger endless controversy. :p However, it could still be used on another RU seal, perhaps a logo for the AFC Church itself?! :D I could see Aaron Burr on one side, Gabriel on the other, and a shield bearing the AFC emblem on a shield. Gabriel could be presented as female easily in that context.

autonomousoblast

September 5th, 2013, 04:10 AM

Gabriel herself? I always read Gabriel's a "he". Maybe it was just because I was Baptist Protestant growing up. :p And since I was a stereotypical Baptist Protestant, a lot of others probably think Gabriel's a he, too, which wouldn't sit well with hardline Baptists and such in the RU (AFC probably don't care either way). So in other words, I guess Gabriel's kind of out for the main seal. :p However, it could still be used on another RU seal, perhaps a logo for the AFC Church itself?! :D I could see Aaron Burr on one side, Gabriel on the other, and a shield bearing the AFC emblem on a shield.

I just referred to Gabriel as she out of the stereotype of heraldic angels being female, disregard that :p. So Gabriel could very well be depicted as a man, perhaps in the flowing robes that archangels are associated with? Or how else would Gabriel be depicted?

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 04:21 AM

I just referred to Gabriel as she out of the stereotype of heraldic angels being female, disregard that :p. So Gabriel could very well be depicted as a man, perhaps in the flowing robes that archangels are associated with? Or how else would Gabriel be depicted?

Lol, okay. :p Like I said, Gabriel (any gender) would work for an AFC seal/logo, while Lady Liberty and Blind Bible Justice (:p) would probably work best for the national seal.

Gabriel could be presented as being a Roman-type warrior of sorts, in a tunic and breast-plate type way. Kind of like the monarch Liberty stabs on the OTL Virginia seal. Real-life Protestants I know would picture Gabriel that way.

autonomousoblast

September 5th, 2013, 06:39 AM

Lol, okay. :p Like I said, Gabriel (any gender) would work for an AFC seal/logo, while Lady Liberty and Blind Bible Justice (:p) would probably work best for the national seal.

Gabriel could be presented as being a Roman-type warrior of sorts, in a tunic and breast-plate type way. Kind of like the monarch Liberty stabs on the OTL Virginia seal. Real-life Protestants I know would picture Gabriel that way.

If not Gabriel, than we can have Archangel Michael, who seems to be honoured by protestants? He would be depicted as having a sword of fire and a shield.

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 07:05 AM

If not Gabriel, than we can have Archangel Michael, who seems to be honoured by protestants? He would be depicted as having a sword of fire and a shield.

Yeah, that might work. Where would he go on it?

autonomousoblast

September 5th, 2013, 07:11 AM

Yeah, that might work. Where would he go on it?

I was thinking him standing and someone prostrating in front of him, and that'd be the obverse side. Who should be depicted prostrating? Custer? Who is considered a founding father of the R.U.?

Avskygod0

September 5th, 2013, 07:29 AM

I think i know why RU hates the Slavs

They have biggest country and RU is jelaous

Clandango

September 5th, 2013, 07:34 AM

That sounds awesome. :D Yeah, this is pretty much spot-on. I may use it for references later. :cool: Quite soon I'll introduce soda, especially "Cokie-Cola:"

I would have suggested similar, though thought you might have been sated by the amount of references to it in American King. Going to bring back Dr. Pepper? That or use the logo of Pepsi. The colors are at more appropriate, though the French might snag it for their air force rondels.

Clandango

September 5th, 2013, 07:38 AM

The Saint Gabriel idea is neat, but it might look too Catholic-y for the RU. They'd be more likely to represent Gabriel in an unrecognizable form, like an Alexander the Great-looking/ancient warrior chap or as simply an orb of power than as a recognizable "St. Gabriel" with the extremely Catholic wings and/or halo that would make it identifiable.

I'm whipping up the rough idea for the seal right now. Should only be a few minutes. :)

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/rel-ncf.html

autonomousoblast

September 5th, 2013, 07:44 AM

I was thinking him standing and someone prostrating in front of him, and that'd be the obverse side. Who should be depicted prostrating? Custer? Who is considered a founding father of the R.U.?

Maybe depict Archangel Michael as crushing the evils of the R.U. boiled down to one figure? What would that figure look like? What will it represent?

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 07:50 AM

I was thinking him standing and someone prostrating in front of him, and that'd be the obverse side. Who should be depicted prostrating? Custer? Who is considered a founding father of the R.U.?

That's where I think the angel idea doesn't work; Willard Crawford is considered a founding father of sorts, along with Aaron Burr, but Crawford was not AFC and was not a dictator (or anything close). Custer was just the latest in a long string of consuls going back to 1801, but he just took more power. Thus, there's not anyone who would really be appropriate for prostrating. :p Before Custer, they also tried to not build up leaders (they thought it was Federalistic to do that), thus that part of the seal couldn't be adopted anytime before 1891 or so, and it wouldn't make sense to put Crawford or Burr on it by that point, especially after Burr's grandson was imprisoned by Custer when he took power. And Custer could never be put on it before his death in the 1920s. Custer still worried about people getting upset over Federalistic and dictatorial stuff. He intended Steele to be his successor who would finally bring about an Orwellian dictatorship (which he is doing currently). The only person who would fit bowing to St. Michael would be Uncle Sam or Lady Liberty, which would actually look kind of hilariously awesome. :D

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 07:52 AM

Maybe depict Archangel Michael as crushing the evils of the R.U. boiled down to one figure? What would that figure look like? What will it represent?

Ooh, I like this! :D The races loathed would be Slavs, Asians, Irish, Italians, French, and Arabs. Not sure what a figure representing them all would look like. I hate to say it, but I've got to draw a comparison to Bioshock:

Darn it, I hate it when this TL seems too Bioshock-ish, since I invented the main core of TTL before Infinite. :p

autonomousoblast

September 5th, 2013, 07:56 AM

That's where I think the angel idea doesn't work; Willard Crawford is considered a founding father of sorts, along with Aaron Burr, but Crawford was not AFC and was not a dictator (or anything close). Custer was just the latest in a long string of consuls going back to 1801, but he just took more power. Thus, there's not anyone who would really be appropriate for prostrating. :p Before Custer, they also tried to not build up leaders (they thought it was Federalistic to do that), thus that part of the seal couldn't be adopted anytime before 1891 or so, and it wouldn't make sense to put Crawford or Burr on it by that point, especially after Burr's grandson was imprisoned by Custer when he took power. And Custer could never be put on it before his death in the 1920s. Custer still worried about people getting upset over Federalistic and dictatorial stuff. He intended Steele to be his successor who would finally bring about an Orwellian dictatorship (which he is doing currently). The only person who would fit bowing to St. Michael would be Uncle Sam or Lady Liberty, which would actually look kind of hilariously awesome. :D

Oh, I guess Uncle Sam would just be surreal, since there can't be any founding daddy on the seal, perhaps lets just depict Archangel Michael squashing a figure representing all the evils boiled down into one, the only problem is that it would look too Orthodox. I'd look to C.S. heraldry for inspiration, but even they were incredibly secular in their symbolism, repeating the classic republican symbols of phrygian caps, Lady Liberty, Minerva etc. Any more ideas on how to make the seal as religious as possible while still looking "American?"

EDIT: What about a religious allegory? Like on this proposed seal for the U.S.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/FirstCommitteeGreatSealReverseLossingDrawing.jpg/1024px-FirstCommitteeGreatSealReverseLossingDrawing.jpg

Napoleon53

September 5th, 2013, 08:14 AM

EDIT: Ooh, that looks interesting. What all is it symbolizing? The imperialists getting washed away by God to save America? That does certainly fit!

Other ideas: You could have Uncle Sam (or Justice) and Lady Liberty sort of stooping on one knee on each side of a shield with the Eye of Providence, kind of heralding God's watch over the Union (or Second Coming if you want to get creepy New Jerusalem antichrist-y about it :p). They EoP symbolizes the RU dogma of Manifest Destiny in a nutshell, like God is watching over them on their divine mission to defeat all of their enemies. Manifest Destiny is one belief shared by virtually all Protestants in the Union, and it's the central tenet of America and the main reason for its existence.

Other than that, the main eagle is already clutching a cross in my rough draft, too, so I don't want it too bombastically plastered with more religious iconography, since the Union still has the traditional "'Murica, hell yeah!" red, white, and blue, Uncle Sam, and eagles everywhere. And they are a functioning republic, for now, and they do use some of the same secular symbols as OTL USA. EDIT: Although I do love that seal you just posted!

autonomousoblast

September 5th, 2013, 03:38 PM

EDIT: Ooh, that looks interesting. What all is it symbolizing? The imperialists getting washed away by God to save America? That does certainly fit!

Other ideas: You could have Uncle Sam (or Justice) and Lady Liberty sort of stooping on one knee on each side of a shield with the Eye of Providence, kind of heralding God's watch over the Union (or Second Coming if you want to get creepy New Jerusalem antichrist-y about it :p). They EoP symbolizes the RU dogma of Manifest Destiny in a nutshell, like God is watching over them on their divine mission to defeat all of their enemies. Manifest Destiny is one belief shared by virtually all Protestants in the Union, and it's the central tenet of America and the main reason for its existence.

Other than that, the main eagle is already clutching a cross in my rough draft, too, so I don't want it too bombastically plastered with more religious iconography, since the Union still has the traditional "'Murica, hell yeah!" red, white, and blue, Uncle Sam, and eagles everywhere. And they are a functioning republic, for now, and they do use some of the same secular symbols as OTL USA. EDIT: Although I do love that seal you just posted!

It uses a biblical allegory (Moses leading his people away from the tyrant Pharaoh, the theme being that opposing tyranny is obeying god) that can be changed around to be a bit more authoritarian. I'll see tonight what I can come up with and tell you.

Napoleon53

September 6th, 2013, 06:25 AM

All right, most of these are real people, but some are fictional. I'm also going to post a second version of the last chapter now that all the gov't officials are mapped out. :D I've also now given Harding an important position. I guess he's a bit like Anton Drexler now. And here's another video! It's actually pretty nifty, including an audio SPEECH by Joe Steele I spliced together! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKIZSyDD9YQ The 1940 date I put in is just a general idea. Lots of the officials you can see following Steele down the aisle are probably most of the same guys in this list. Watch carefully and you can spot other Madnessverse references, like the Eagle Standards of the Army and the OTL USA "MDP flags." The video ends with an anarchist rushing the stage in an assassination attempt, only to be beaten to death by Party goons.

William Durward Connor, General, Army of the Midwest
Peyton C. March, General, Army of the West
Gunther Carlstrom, Army of Mexico
Maxwell Bolten, Army of Central America
Mathias Mathers, Secretary of Army Affairs

Foreign Affairs seems markedly absent. Also, perhaps one of the neighbor countries has a Secretary of State as it was originally intended to be?

Napoleon53

September 6th, 2013, 09:31 AM

Foreign Affairs seems markedly absent. Also, perhaps one of the neighbor countries has a Secretary of State as it was originally intended to be?

I actually thought of that; Foreign Affairs will be handled by the Chief Consuls with advice from their Chiefs of the Armed Forces (Aeroforce, Navy, Army...) and other government officers they think should have input. I might reveal in the finalized government chapter that one of the Second Chief Consul's few duties is chief diplomat, thus he would fulfill a FA type position. Basically, Custer would have done away with any FA if it ever existed ITTL, as he pretty much ran all interaction with the outside world. Steele and Roosevelt will be even more controlling.

Oh yeah, Virginia's government would be almost identical in most respects to OTL USA, with some differences (House of Burgesses instead of a Congress). I'm sure at least VA has a Sec. of State, and probably other recognizable features like a Supreme Court, etc.

Clandango

September 6th, 2013, 09:45 AM

Being a British Home Secretary or Russian Secretary of the Interior, then?

Napoleon53

September 6th, 2013, 09:59 AM

Being a British Home Secretary or Russian Secretary of the Interior, then?

Yeah, I think so, if I get you right, although RUMP would cover some of those duties.

EVC

September 6th, 2013, 03:59 PM

Does Joe Steele have any kids, Napoleon?

Napoleon53

September 6th, 2013, 04:57 PM

Does Joe Steele have any kids, Napoleon?

Darn, I should cover this since I remember thinking it should be a plot point! Nope, not at the moment. It'll be part of his personality of "trust no one," and that he's too busy being "married to the MDP." Eventually I might have him get hitched, but as of right now, if he has any kids they're illegitimate.

EVC

September 6th, 2013, 05:12 PM

What is the Union's view on Science and do they have any quibbles on Genetics and biology?

Napoleon53

September 6th, 2013, 08:14 PM

What is the Union's view on Science and do they have any quibbles on Genetics and biology?

Since I haven't shown evolution being "invented," they probably still have science in agreement with the church in most countries, especially the Empire and other Catholic countries. Most of the nations ITTL think they still live in the "Age of Enlightenment," like era of Voltaire and Locke and such, so they're quite fond of science. Genetics I'm not sure about, but the Union might be for an equivalent of "eugenics."

traveller76

September 6th, 2013, 08:23 PM

I could see the Union being big on engineering, chemistry, metallurgy especially in the bigger is better school. Theorectial sciences may be suspect unless there are proven benefits for industry or the military. I could see the corporations funding 'civilian' research with the Union on military projects.

BTW: Old Uncle Joe had 2 sons and a daughter who died in 2011. Maybe the next Union First Consul could be a woman!

Napoleon53

September 6th, 2013, 08:28 PM

I could see the Union being big on engineering, chemistry, metallurgy especially in the bigger is better school. Theorectial sciences may be suspect unless there are proven benefits for industry or the military. I could see the corporations funding 'civilian' research with the Union on military projects.

BTW: Old Uncle Joe had 2 sons and a daughter who died in 2011. Maybe the next Union First Consul could be a woman!

That sounds good to me. "Country first, frivolous research second." :p The Union is also going to begin dabbling with ideas about nuclear and atomic energy soon. That should be interesting...

I actually considered that! I decided to stick with a male, but you might see a high-ranking female Union official in the near future. I've also considered having the next German emperor in this be an empress, since there never was one OTL. "Kaiserin Wilhelmina I," or something along those lines.

EVC

September 6th, 2013, 11:03 PM

Could the Goodyear company invest in development of TVs?

Zoidberg12

September 6th, 2013, 11:42 PM

Erich brings up a good point, especially considering that technology ITTL is, for the most part, give or take twenty years ahead of OTL. In that case I imagine this worlds analog to the television has been invented by 1930.

Zoidberg12

September 7th, 2013, 04:12 AM

Napo will there be an expanded universe thread for this timeline like you had with American King II?

Clandango

September 7th, 2013, 07:49 AM

Since I haven't shown evolution being "invented," they probably still have science in agreement with the church in most countries, especially the Empire and other Catholic countries. Most of the nations ITTL think they still live in the "Age of Enlightenment," like era of Voltaire and Locke and such, so they're quite fond of science. Genetics I'm not sure about, but the Union might be for an equivalent of "eugenics."
Could could try to spin it that highly lethal activities or things requiring a great deal of strength be used on Greeks, Slavs, Poles, and Irishmen with the strongest then having been 'discovered' to have Roman, Varangian, and British blood in them.

Napoleon53

September 7th, 2013, 04:42 PM

Could the Goodyear company invest in development of TVs?

Erich brings up a good point, especially considering that technology ITTL is, for the most part, give or take twenty years ahead of OTL. In that case I imagine this worlds analog to the television has been invented by 1930.

I actually thought of this in the baseball chapter. You can fully expect to see TVs (or whatever they call them in this) sometime in the 1930s. :D They've probably been trying to make them since the 1910s. I'll give a full history of them when I finally introduce them.

Napo will there be an expanded universe thread for this timeline like you had with American King II?

Ah, very possible! :) I think it'd be quite fun to have all kinds of ministories and all the same things AKII EU had. I could also post all of the propagana posters made for this TL there (in case I can't include every single one in the TL, they can still be appreciated).

Could could try to spin it that highly lethal activities or things requiring a great deal of strength be used on Greeks, Slavs, Poles, and Irishmen with the strongest then having been 'discovered' to have Roman, Varangian, and British blood in them.

I'm already way ahead of you on this one. Who do you think they'll be testing the effects of radiation on, WASPs? *uppity Yankee laughter* :p

Superman

September 7th, 2013, 06:16 PM

Maybe TVs could be called VSs. You know, for video screen.

Zoidberg12

September 9th, 2013, 12:47 AM

Napoleon are we going to get more into the Manifest Destiny Party Zealots in the new edition to the last update?

What happens to children in the RU born out of wedlock between one deemed "superior" and the other "inferior"? What would the RU's racist government's stance on this be? You mentioned American soldiers in Korea having mixed race children out of wedlock, but only touched upon it.

Can't wait for the Winston Churchill chapter BTW.

Superman

September 9th, 2013, 01:11 AM

Could we ever be getting a look at TTL's version of comic books? I'd imagine the R.U. version of Superman would look very different, since he was created by Jews IOTL. Also, since we know that the R.U. isn't afriad of expanding outside of North America with the Korean annexation, could we see the American states of England and/or Scotland?

Zoidberg12

September 9th, 2013, 01:20 AM

Could we ever be getting a look at TTL's version of comic books? I'd imagine the R.U. version of Superman would look very different, since he was created by Jews IOTL. Also, since we know that the R.U. isn't afriad of expanding outside of North America with the Korean annexation, could we see the American states of England and/or Scotland?

I've actually been wondering about comic books in this world as well. The Columbian nations probably have "Captain Columbia", while the RU would have "Commander America", and would be much more propaganda related than a Southron superhero.

Napoleon53

September 10th, 2013, 02:04 AM

Okay guys, there are a couple minor changes in the sections you read before, and then two new whole sections covering the Union Army and Navy, as well as the MDP Zealots. I'll answer all of your questions above as soon as I can. And as for comic books, it's "Colonel Union." :D;)

THE IRON STEELE
-"I TRUST NO ONE, NOT EVEN MYSELF"-
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7290/9579438924_24a2698c46.jpg
"The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force."
Joseph Steele, 1927

"It has made abundantly clear to us true God-fearing Christians that the End Times have come. Joseph Steele is the Antichrist! He is the Yankee Servant of Satan and he has come onto the world scene like a roaring lion, seeking out nations to devour. Beware of this man, for he is the spawn of Hell."

In 1927, William Jennings Bryan did not seek reelection. Bryan's Second Chief Consul Warren G. Harding went into a political freeze as he waited to see what would happen next. Joseph Steele, then 49 years old, would be the next First Chief Consul without doubt, but Harding wasn't sure what position he himself would get in a Steele government. The fiery orator went out campaigning for him, plugging Steele every chance he got. Harding might have been old, but he wasn't worn-out. In fact, Steele was so impressed he moved him up into his shortlist of possible Second Chief Consuls. Calvin Coolidge also went on this list, as well as Oshkosh mayor Robert Lafawlet II, State Consul Herbert Hoover of New York, and Teddy Roosevelt's cousin Franklin Martin Roosevelt, an industrialist who had recently founded a very successful autocarriage company. In the end, he chose Roosevelt. Harding went on to be Steele's successor as official head, "Chief Minister," of the Manifest Destiny Party, with Edward Martin of Pennsylvania as his Deputy Minister.

Even though victory was assured and he was virtually unopposed (the only people who ran against him were off-brand local candidates and publicity stuntmen), Steele and Roosevelt went touring the nation, whipping up fervor for a new era of Union history. Steele's normally slow, soothing, father-like voice could reach a screaming pitch when he got to a topic of special interest. When he spoke about how the South was rightful American land by right of Manifest Destiny, for instance, his face grew red, his arms gestured angrily, and he shrieked. He was so intimidating, imposing, and attention-grabbing that many Southron preachers started calling him the Antichrist, especially Virginian Reverend Herbie Brant, who straight-up started an "Armageddon Preparedness League," which was essentially a doomsday cult. He claimed to have the power of prophecy, and he said he saw "Joe Steele, standing like a conquering king, treading on mankind's liberty, and fires consuming the land, with never-ending war until the Return of Christ" in his visions. Most wrote Brant off for the crackpot he was, but quotes like that hardly quieted Columbia's fear of the despotic lunatic about to become First Chief Consul.

On January 18th, 1927, 36 years to the day after Custer took over, Joseph Steele was sworn in by Bernard Svenson, the current Reverend-Colonel of the American Fundamentalist Christian Church, on an AFC-authorized Bible. Roosevelt followed suit soon after.

"I, Joseph Custer Steele, do solemnly swear to devote all my personal strength and abilities to the advancement and prosperity of the Republican Union, to always abide by the Union Constitution and the laws of our country, to defend democracy, the fundamental rights and freedoms of the American man, and our sovereignty, independence, unity, purity, territorial and religious integrity. So help me God I do swear these things upon the Holy Gospels, my personal honor, the honor of my beloved Manifest Destiny Party, and in the memory of Patriot Comrade Custer, hero of the most proletarian fascist American people. All hail."

Joseph C. Steele taking the Oath of Office of the First Chief Consul of the Republican Union

http://warnerbros.pbworks.com/f/fdr%20swearing%20in.jpg
Franklin Martin Roosevelt taking the Oath of Office of the Second Chief Consul of the Republican Union

"All hail! All hail! All hail!" chanted the throngs of onlookers. Fireworks went off over the Capitol Building, Consular Mansion, Independence Hall, the CYB Headquarters, and other government buildings in an elaborately choreographed light show. The bands struck up the new Consular March. Flags waved, people cheered, and all raised their hands in salute as Steele and Roosevelt walked down a long red carpet to their parade limousine. The Steele Era had begun...

All Hail to the Chiefs we have chosen for the nation,
All Hail to the Consuls! We salute them, one and all.
Hail to the Chief Consuls, as we pledge cooperation
In proud fulfillment of a great, noble call!

All Hail to the Chiefs, fathers of our nation,
All Hail to the Consuls! God bless their administration.
All Hail to the Chief Consuls, as we pledge cooperation
In proud fulfillment of a great, noble call!

Yours is the aim to make this grand union grander,
This you will do, that's our strong, firm belief.
All Hail to the two we selected as commanders,
Hail to the Second Chief Consul! Hail to the First!

***

When Steele officially started his duties the next day, film crews showed up in the so-called "Hex Room," the hexagon-shaped personal office in the Consular Mansion used by every past First Chief Consul for the past century, to get footage of Bryan and Steele shaking hands and exchanging well-wishes as the name plate on the desk was replaced and Steele's personal office paraphernalia was set up.

Thirty minutes after the filming stopped, things went back to business. Steele's advisers came pouring in and out in a never-ending line, briefing him on the matters at hand and government secrets, as well as his personal confidants making suggestions as to who should stay in their positions and who should go.

THE OHIO COUNTRY:

Even though the Old Republic had collapsed thanks to Adams and Hamilton trying to create a one-party state, Steele, a neurotic sociopath, intended on doing the same exact thing and wanted to make sure the Manifest Destiny Party would be the only party around. Though known only to a handful of high-ranking Union officials, one of the first things Steele did was to order the "handling" of several of his personal and political "problems." Some of these "problems" died in "car accidents," while others disappeared into the Ohio Country, never to be seen again, with nary an explanation given.

Pennsylvania's Ohio Country was quite secluded, and it had been used for decades for "reeducation camps." Only a few people were ever officially executed at these camps, and most where just held in miserable conditions for the rest of their natural lives. However, Steele approved plans for the construction of "ORRA Pacification Camps," where the most "worthless" Inferiors (those with families with a history of mental disorders, those who were sterile, and those who openly had expressed desire to act against the government), as well as Steele's personal enemies and sometimes those just suspected of being his enemies. Steele said to Joey Goebbels, one of his military advisers and an ORRA sky marshal at the Canadian border, "I trust no one, not even myself."

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS:

In the face of the foundation of CEMA, Steele wanted to strengthen the Union economy as much as possible to keep being competitive. He arranged for the end of the state-by-state currencies and the state-by-state treasuries as a whole. Instead, he moved all economic matters into the realm of the newly-created Department of the Treasury, spear-headed by none other than Colonel Charles Goodyear II (62 years old in 1927). Secretary Goodyear designed a new national currency, the decidedly federalistic Union Reserve Note. Ironically, the Union citizens had no problem with this Hamiltonian set-up, and they eagerly rushed to the banks to exchange their state-printed currency, which they saw as their patriotic duty to do. The Treasury set itself up in a brand new Roman-style complex in Philadelphia, unimaginatively called the Treasury Building.

http://freerisk.org/wiki/images/thumb/7/72/800px-US-Treasury-Large.png/500px-800px-US-Treasury-Large.png
The Treasury Building 1930

THE AEROFORCE:
http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/attachment.php?attachmentid=211102&stc=1&d=1376522195
The Aeroforce had been under a fuzzy, confusing administration by the Union Army since its conception, and sometime the Navy also took charge of some matters, especially with airships. Steele saw this was a huge waste of time and effort and the Aeroforce was finally made a completely separate branch of the military. The new Chief of the Aeroforce was Manfred Steiner, a personal friend of Steele's one of the original crew members of the Edward Everett Airship Flight of 1885. The 62 year-old had won the Order of Patriotic Brethren Medallion for the flight, but since then he had won a chest full of medals in the First Mexican War, Missionary War, Occupation of Korea, Annexation of Texas, and the Second Mexican War, and had also been awarded the title of Colonel, like the Goodyears. Colonel Steiner set out to make sure the Aeroforce had enough money coming in to keep the thousands of planes and airships--and the land vehicles needed for the runways and such--in good working order. His other priority was coordinating the construction of enough airports in the country to handle the operations that would be necessary in the event of war.

THE OFFICE OF RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS:
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2806/9604541104_c14e8b143d.jpg

The ORRA was and remained under personal orders from the First Chief Consul. Nevertheless, Steele realized it would be useful to appoint an underling to manage the daily affairs. He knew it would have to be someone utterly loyal and willing to follow any order. He saw those traits in native Bostonian Joey Goebbels, who Steele later referred to as an "unquestioning tool of the highest degree but also of unwaveringly loyal to me." Sky Marshal J. Goebbels became the first figurehead leader of the Office of Racial and Religious Affairs.

Upon assuming office, the ORRA head legally changed the spelling of his name to "Gobells," because "I am sick of my men calling me a gerbil and constantly misspelling it." It was actually not unusual; many, many people changed or simplified complex foreign names in the Union during this era. Also upon assuming office, Gobells secretly hunted down all evidence that his immigrant father, Fritz Goebbels, had been Catholic. Fritz had never openly professed Catholicism, and Joey joined an AFC church in college, so all he had to do was find his father's diary, which belonged to his brother Hans. In September of 1928, Hans Goebbels experienced a "burglary." Hans was shot in the chest four times and the house was ransacked. The "burglars," of course, where Joey's private mercenaries. They found the diary and brought it to Joey. When the mercenaries asked for payment, Joey personally stabbed both of them, burned the diary, and then buried their bodies in his cellar. Dead men tell no tales, after all. And burned books tell no professions of Catholic faith.

ORRA had a all-seeing network of spies within the Union, tracking down Inferiors and disrupting plots. They also built massive fences costing millions of dollars at the borders and patrolled them in their airships. They also had elite combat units that were considered the best of the best of all the other branches of service. One such elite unit was the "Joseph Steele's Consular Legion," the personal bodyguards of Joseph Steele. It was formerly known as the "George Custer Regiment of Foot." By the mid-1930s, it had been renamed yet again to "Joseph Steele's Own Mechanized Consular Legion," or the "JSO-MCL," due to the advent of landships and armored troop carriers.

THE MILITARY POLICE:
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7210/1491/1600/mp.jpg

The Military Police had essentially become the Union's version of the "national guard" sported by Virginia and Georgia. They not only fulfilled the duties of normal police officers, thereby taking most of the need for city and state police away, but they also were a military force, ready to "carry on the traditions of the Minutemen of Colonial Days" and fight with the borders of the Union if ever invaded. They were considered inferior to the normal Army soldiers and the ORRA units, both of which were ready to go on the offensive against any enemy in the enemy's own territory.

Steele put in Commander William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan of New York to replace the outgoing Samuel Brock as Chief of the Military Police. Chief Donovan was a hero of the Second Mexican War and had been with the 11th Legion at the Siege of Guadalajara, earning a total of 14 medals and decorations. In the late 1910s, he had joined the New York branch of the Military Police "because he was bored in peacetime" and had been shot twice in the line of duty against absinthe smugglers. He had gone up and up in the RUMP ranks since, and Steele knew he was the perfect choice for Chief.

Upon his appointment as Chief of the RUMP, Donovan began using new tactics against absinthe and human smugglers at the border and brought the Port Authorities under the administration of RUMP. Absinthe smuggling plummeted, and human smuggling stopped almost completely. Donovan personally disliked Joey Gobells, but he worked in coordination with the Great Lakes ORRA Airship Squadron to combat the Canadian-American mobs. In a daring assault, on October 7th, 1928, RUMP armored patrol boats engaged a small fleet of smuggler submarines and armored yachts. After capturing them with heavy casualties on both sides, they managed to rough them up enough to learn where the smugglers were basing themselves. Two hours later, the Great Lakes ORRA Airship Squadron was opening up a hellish barrage on a multimillion-dollar Canadian yacht, and they ended up killing Frank Scalleta, and Italian-Canadian mobster who was one of the most wanted men in the Union. For these actions, both Gobells and Donovan were awarded Hero of the Union Medals, the highest possible decoration in the Union military, and were made Colonels.

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/vintage-prohibition-photos-united-states-boston-5.jpg
Two RUMP vessels photographed from an ORRA airship over Lake Superior; to the far left can be seen part of Scalleta's yacht

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site140/2012/1107/20121107_101349_Prohibition1_500.jpg
RUMP Port Authorities posing with captured absinthe taken during the 1928 "Battle of Lake Superior"

THE CUSTER YOUTH BRIGADE:
http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/65/6535/F1C4100Z/posters/anonymous-wwii-hitler-youth-1936.jpg
"Bringing in the Sheaves, Bringing in the Sheeves..." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3cdC_HTxIQ)

Calvin Coolidge was an excellent Headmaster-Marshal, was loyal, and was relatively young, so Steele made sure to keep him. The CYB considered changing its name to the "Steel Youth Brigade," but Steele vetoed it, saying having the deceased Custer's name attached to it made it sort of a memorial to his "father." The CYB was a branch of the military, and Steele and Coolidge decided to press that fact even further, giving more rigorous combat training starting in late 1927. The CYB became Coolidge's little project and private hobby, and he lobbied for more and more money and resources, and in the end the CYB even had its own vehicles and small airships.

In 1929, the CYB finally caught up to the fad in Europe of steel helmets and became the first Union branch to adopt them, creating the CYB M29 Pot. The Army and RUMP thought this was a very good idea, relegating juice squeezer and kepi hats for non-combat duties and adopting the RU M30 Pot. An oddity with the CYB were their "great buffalo hunts" on the Great Plains, which were originally held because of Teddy Roosevelt's idea of "field trip;" "Hey, kids love shooting animals!" Buffalo fur hand-made "Teddy hats" became a trademark of the CYB under Coolidge and later became a part of the regular Army cold weather combat uniform.

Girls had always been a part of the CYB, but under Steele, their participation sky-rocketed. Taking a move from the playbooks of Russia, Greece, and Ireland, ironically all "Inferior" countries, the Union trained the girls aged 13 to 18 to fight. They were given the CYB M29 pots, Craig-Jordan M1901 rifles, and uniforms and trained to most of the same degree as the boys. Pants were a part of the combat and campaign uniforms, which was shocking by western standards, although skirts still were used for the dress uniforms. The female CYB regiments finally made it possible for the government to brainwash every child year-round, and not letting the little future housewives develop doubt in their summer vacation from public school. Now, every boy and girl would be a perfect little sockpuppet for the state. No parents in their right minds would try to preach subversive ideas to their children for fear of their own kids reporting them to "your friendly local ORRA office." Every non-Inferior Union child's life was surrounded by the CYB. From the time they got to the time they went to bed, every second of their day hinged on what Headmaster-Marshal Coolidge wanted. Most of the parents thought it was great, and many of them had been brainwashed by the CYB when they were young. From the pants, to the combat duties, to the arming of the women, nothing phased the public who looked at Steele almost like he was a god among them.

The Army went under a radical reconstruction as soon as Steele took office. Pershing was appointed Grand Marshal of the Army and he was the one who followed the CYB's lead of adopting metal helmets. The M30 Pot became the basic infantry helmet, but Union Stormsoldiers, like the one in the photos above, were equipped with M31 Liberty Bells and full torso and arm plate armor. The Stormsoldier were a totally new idea. The new Stormsoldiers were the toughest, strongest men, the elite of the Army. Instead of forming Legions, they formed "Cohorts" of 80 men each. The armor eventually was mostly phased out before long (though it was kept for ceremonial purposes) but M31 helmets stayed. The invention of landships later on in the 1930s saw the Stormsoldiers transition to a new role: mechanized infantry. The Stormsoldiers were disbanded in 1938, and were morphed into the Union Army Landship Corps.

Another unique deviation from normal Union Army units came in the form of the Manifest Destiny Party Zealots. They had been around as a volunteer fighting force since the late 1890s, but around the 1920s, they really came into their own. Many of them were the most radical of radicals, willing to blow themselves up or get shot for the good of the nation. Sporting MDP flags around tied around their heads, prayed to a portrait of Jesus, and with the "Divine Will of Manifest Destiny" supporting them they pledged to fight to the bitter end for the Union, no matter what the cost. Their first action under Joe Steele was crushing a small rebellion in southern Korea in 1932. The MDP Zealots landed and crushed the revolt in days, butchering whole villages and showing no fear whatsoever at charging autogun nests at point-blank range. By 1935, Steele was so pleased with their performance in the field that he took them out of the regular army and put them under ORRA's administration. They went on to glory in the crushing of several revolts in the Pacific, and became known as Steele's Fist. From 1928 onward, the English-made "roundhead helmet" was a signature of the MDP Zealots, so much so that the Virginian National Guard, who had used them since the 1910s, dropped them and adopted their own "M30 Pot" (not to be confused with the Union helmet of the same name), a popular Helvetic-made helmet similar to the Prussian stahlhelm.

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Opening/img/USMC-C-Opening-1.gif
MDP Zealots land on Philadelphia Island, South Pacific; they put an entire tribal civilization the sword in weeks during the bloody yet unremarkable Philadelphia Island War of 1939.

The Union Navy had been fairly pathetic compared to Europe during Custer's rule. True, the Panama Canal and the defeat of the Mexican Navy had gone well, but if a war came, Steele and Roosevelt knew it would not go well unless the Navy was modernized. Beginning in 1931, Steele let Grand Admiral William Sims have free-reign on the restructuring of the America's naval might. By 1936, the world was growing increasingly nervous about the build-up. Cape Cod, Massachusetts had become a metropolis, with crews working day and night on warships. In 1939, the year of Sims death and replacement by Jethro Powell as Grand Admiral, the RUS Custer was unveiled. It was the biggest battleship ever built up to that point. The Custer was an astonishing 823 feet long and carried 2000 men, and could fire shells up to 10 miles away. This terrified every navy in the world, and everyone immediately started building their own versions. In 1940, the Tripartite Empire finished construction on the HMS Marie Louise, which was about the same size as the Custer. A sister ship, the HMS Marseilles, went into service the next year.

http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/bismarck/bismarck.jpg
The RUS Custer

By 1940, Steele was fully confident that the Union would be able to at least hold at bay naval attacks, but still, a naval invasion remained on his list of things to watch out for. The entire coast of New England had been outfitted with shore defenses by the mid-1940s, including massive guns that could destroy whole warships in just one or two shots, as well as innumerable static fortifications and a pillbox bunkers. Everyone knew th Union was gearing up for war. The question was not if, but when...

Napoleon53

September 10th, 2013, 06:03 AM

Maybe TVs could be called VSs. You know, for video screen.

Or perhaps PSs, for picture screens. I'd have to look up the origin of the word "video" to make up my mind for sure.

What happens to children in the RU born out of wedlock between one deemed "superior" and the other "inferior"? What would the RU's racist government's stance on this be? You mentioned American soldiers in Korea having mixed race children out of wedlock, but only touched upon it.

Can't wait for the Winston Churchill chapter BTW.

Any kid like those half-Koreans will be considered race-mixed Inferiors. Oddly enough, the government probably doesn't have much of a problem with that. :eek: It's not like the soldiers who fathered them actually were married to the mother after all, and a continual polluting of the Korean people will eventually make a crapload percentage of them at least part Caucasian. And the Union isn't like the Nazis in that they want to exterminate other races, they want to use them as workers, and a half-American Korean would be much less independent-minded than a full-blooded Korean.

Could we ever be getting a look at TTL's version of comic books? I'd imagine the R.U. version of Superman would look very different, since he was created by Jews IOTL.

Also, since we know that the R.U. isn't afriad of expanding outside of North America with the Korean annexation, could we see the American states of England and/or Scotland?

I'm definitely going to do that. By the 1950s in this TL, we'll have an overload of pop culture updates and among them will be comic books. :D

If I hadn't already made plans for Scotland and England, I'd totally use your idea. :D But sadly, no, S & E will remain independent but close allies of the RU.

I've actually been wondering about comic books in this world as well. The Columbian nations probably have "Captain Columbia", while the RU would have "Commander America", and would be much more propaganda related than a Southron superhero.

Captain Columbia sounds awesome in every way. :D The R.U. version I already thought up would be "Colonel Union," a masked patriot who pummels Inferiors in the ghetto. "WHERE WAS THE REST OF THE ABSINTHE GOING?!" *holds Irishman off roof Christian Bale-style* :p:D

Napoleon53

September 10th, 2013, 08:25 AM

Here we go! :D This chapter actually covers a European-centered war, which is interesting as a change of pace.

WINSTON THE BEAR
-THE RISE OF THE ENGLISH CUSTER-
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rh7lZxP_MXc/Tkj34_5DaiI/AAAAAAAAKG4/gwuVwlKvqwA/s400/Winston-Churchill_0715.jpg
"The Twentieth Century will be known as the Century of Fascism!"
-Winston Churchill

The cigar-chomping "Bear of England," Winston Churchill, was born on November 30th, 1874, in Woodstock, Kingdom of England. He was born just in time to see the Royal Family finish its spiral into the loo of history, thanks to the Prince Victor debacle. Winnie's mother was an American, Jennie Jerome, and his father, Randolph Churchill, had been the one to declare the Commonwealth of England in 1892. Randolph was a moderate aristocrat, but Jennie was a fascist sympathizer. In an effort to make sure her son got a proper Protestant education away from the unrest and violence of the decaying Kingdom, she sent Winston to colleges in the Union in 1890, where he stayed until the abolishing of the monarchy in 1892 and the ensuing return to law and order that made England hospitable again.

Young Winston's roommate during his stay at Shicagwa University was, as mentioned before, none other than future Custer Youth Brigade Headmaster-Marshal Calvin Coolidge. It had been "Cool Cal" who had convinced Winston to go to the Shicagwa Coliseum to hear key members of the MDP speak about the glory of fascism. That was the day when the young Englishman knew he wanted to become a politician.

Upon getting back to England, Winston joined the Army, and he was among the first English troops to march in the 1902 Cornwall Reclamation, when Imperial troops finally gave back the occupation zone they had held since the Napoleonic Wars. By 1920, Churchill had become a major and had participated in an English volunteer brigade during the Second Mexican War, fighting under his old classmate Calvin Coolidge. By 1925, he came out in public as a fascist and pushed for a fascist government like Scotland was adopting at the time. His father had died in 1918, and the economy had stagnated since. He remarked in late 1925, "The people are ready in England. Ready for fascism. All they need is one good push." In 1926, he formed the British League of Fascists, headquartered in Oxford. Once the 1930 elections rolled around, the hugely unpopular Scottish-born Ramsay MacDonald lost in a landslide to Churchill. Churchill took power as President of the Commonwealth with Jeffrey Shepherd, a high-ranking officer in Colonel Goodyear Enterprises English branch, as his Vice-President. Almost immediately, they dissolved the National Congress and, backed up by their most loyal followers, declared the Commonwealth Constitution to be null and void.This was not done without protest. Europe panicked, and the Empire backed Austen Chamberlain, a wealthy English aristocrat who was assembling an army in Cornwall. Austen was a monarchist who secretly desired to conquer Scotland and England and become the first "Emperor of Britannia." However delusional, he was considered a better alternative than Churchill and Scotland's Greer. Thus, the Second English Civil War began.

In early December, 1930, the first skirmishes broke out, and on Christmas Day Chamberlain's 8,000 forces started a march to London. Imperial troops made up at least 50% of his forces, and almost all of his equipment was straight from Paris. Churchill countered, bringing 10,000 fascists to meet them, including several Union regiments. On January 3rd, 1931, the Battle of Farnham took place. Over 2,000 died before Chamberlain withdrew to Basingstoke. But just as he thought he had escaped to regroup, his tired forces were attacked from the north by a Union army 3,000 strong, including several airships. The monarchist army was torn to bloody shreds as the remaining men ran for the hills. The conflict would go on for another year, but everyone knew Chamberlain's cause was hopeless. One May 1st, 1932, surrounded by enemy forces, Chamberlain threw himself into a gunfight in the streets of Taunton, in which he was riddled with bullets and then hanged upside down at a gas station, where all could come and desecrate his body. Churchill had won.

http://app.ufv.ca/fvhistory/studentsites/wwII/warbrides/800px-LondonBombedWWII_full.jpg
Citizens of Cornwall, the hotspot of monarchist sympathy, return home to find their village leveled by fascist artillery as payback for their support of Chamberlain

http://www.cafeduweb.com/images/upload/historizo/Siegfried_Line_080411.jpg
American troops advance through no man's land near Bristol, mid-1931

http://battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/a141709.jpg
Churchill supporters on the march near Taunton, 1932

In the end, over 100,000 soldiers and civilians died in the Second English Civil War, but when the smoke cleared, the survivors clearly supported Churchill (most Englishmen outside of Cornwall already did, and regarded Churchill's enemies as foreign invaders). In fact, it has been said that had Chamberlain and the Empire not tried to overthrow him, Churchill might not have been nearly as successful as he was. The war made him a hero.

Riding on the wave of his victory, he offered Wales a chance to join the new English Republic. Wales had been socialist for decades, and had also been struggling to make it in recent years, with one economic recession after another. In 1936, they finally agreed, and English Lion landships came rolling over the Welsh border in a peaceful annexation and securing of the country. Several hundred Chamberlain supporters had fled to Wales years earlier, and now Churchill's State Security (SS) tracked them down and executed them for treason. Welsh citizens partied in the streets with English soldiers and burned the flags of theTripartite Empire and its allies, especially Ireland. Across the waters, King Dominic III of Ireland brought his parliament into an emergency session to discuss the breaking news. Ireland deployed its navy and did several exercises with the Imperial fleets around the Isle of Man and Fort Scotia. Scotland fumed, and almost demanded the Bonapartes leave their border fort between Scotland and Ireland. In the end, things cooled down a bit and everyone accepted the current situation, but the Imperial fort on Scottish soil would prove a source of future headaches.

http://thatsgoodnewsblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/bacio-marinaio-infermiera-jorgensen.jpg
An English sailor kisses a Welsh woman during the Annexation of Wales

In the end, Churchill had solidified his control over England and Wales, and his close friend Greer supported him in the south whilst their mutual friend Joseph Steele supported them both. By the end of the 1940s, the Union, England, and Scotland were making plans for something... big.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2813/9212169683_48538b58da.jpg

First Chief Consul Steele and Second Chief Consul Franklin Roosevelt meet with President Churchill in London, 1947

You mean the monarchist Cornish people living in exile in Wales who got arrested. Wales, for one, welcomes their new fascist overlords. :p

Thanks, Petike! :D

antoine

September 10th, 2013, 05:39 PM

All hail Churchill :D !

Will we see De Gaulle , Franco , Mussolini and Hitler , or their equivalents ITTL ? I just imagine a "good" Hitler in Vienna telling " we shall fight them in the mountains ,..., we will never surrender !"

Zoidberg12

September 10th, 2013, 05:40 PM

Great additions to the Iron Steele update, and great new update. I was hoping Wales wouldn't go fascist, but I kinda saw it coming. Oh well, tis a dystopia after all. :p

Can't wait for the JFK update. :D Will it be in the same character based narrative like the Joe Steele bio chapter was?

Who else will be involved in this Fascist English government? Mosley definitely, but who else.

Napoleon53

September 10th, 2013, 05:43 PM

All hail Churchill :D !

Will we see De Gaulle , Franco , Mussolini and Hitler , or their equivalents ITTL ? I just imagine a "good" Hitler in Vienna telling " we shall fight them in the mountains ,..., we will never surrender !"

Mussolini was mentioned a couple of chapter ago as owning "Mussolini Motors." He'll be making return appearances. :D

Yes, De Gaulle will probably get at least a cameo as one of Caesar's advisers, at least, if not a Prime Minister, or such.

Franco is possible. I haven't come up with anything for him yet, but that doesn't mean I won't.

Hitler will make an appearance, but I won't say in what role and when. :D Himmler & Hess Autos ("Himmler & Hess Do Everything For Less") are one thing I have confirmed, and expect to see them in the very next cultural update.

traveller76

September 11th, 2013, 08:40 PM

Outside of North America and Europe, I wonder how many states will adopt Unionist tactics. Plus will we see military information from Europe and the Southron states?

Clandango

September 12th, 2013, 07:59 AM

Forget to include who could possibly be the most evil man in American history for this. Milton Snavely Hershey.

Zoidberg12

September 13th, 2013, 10:06 PM

Napoleon whens the Dutchified Kingdom of South China going to appear?

Also, you forgot to answer my last post. Thus is the end of page curse I'm afraid. :p

Zoidberg12

September 13th, 2013, 11:29 PM

Guess what, I'm back to making Info-boxes. :D Heres the Missionary War. The commanders are all real, save for the Dutch general and Korean general, which I made up. If theres any errors let me know and I'll re-upload it in this post.

Also, what did you think of the Napoleon I info-box I made all those months ago?

Zoidberg12

September 14th, 2013, 12:48 AM

Heres an info box for George Armstrong Custer, one of the most eeevvviiilll (mermaid man voice :p) figures in this timeline's history.

Zoidberg12

September 14th, 2013, 01:24 AM

I'm on a roll tonight. :cool: Heres another one of the eeevviiillll historical figures of the Republican Union, none other than the infamous Charles Goodyear himself.

Zoidberg12

September 14th, 2013, 04:26 PM

Heres another founding father of the Republican Union, Willard Crawford.

Zoidberg12

September 15th, 2013, 03:21 AM

Where've ya been Napo? Well anyways, I added more chapter links on the wiki. :) I'll add more tomorrow.

My life's been a little sad the last couple days and I haven't really felt like writing/being online much. If all goes well tomorrow, I should be back to normal.

Holy crap, that's a lot of chapters! Excellent work, sir! :D Just make sure they're the right chapters, since I sometimes make the second edition versions if I'm not satisfied. ;) And I remember before that the Vermont War chapter in the early 1800s was linked twice accidentally by Petike. Not sure if he fixed it or noticed yet, but if you could look that'd be great. :)

Outside of North America and Europe, I wonder how many states will adopt Unionist tactics. Plus will we see military information from Europe and the Southron states?

The Carolinas are really verging on going Fascist. Other than that, we might possibly see China go the same route. Japan is still a feuding backwater ITTL (China is going to be their analogue ITTL eventually), but we might eventually see them go North Korea and have lots of scary weapons; China might move in to stop them.

Forget to include who could possibly be the most evil man in American history for this. Milton Snavely Hershey.

Commandant Hershey of the Ohio Country Deathcamps? :eek:

Napoleon whens the Dutchified Kingdom of South China going to appear?

Also, you forgot to answer my last post. Thus is the end of page curse I'm afraid. :p

The Dutchified China I've hinted at before will probably happen during a world war, as colonial powers are forced to grant autonomy to various areas too big to hold down. Same with California. :D

And I did indeed miss that post. :p Your answers:

Wales is going to have a resistance movement, since their government sold them down the river. The underground will probably be radical left-wing proto-bolsheviks, instead of the moderate socialists of years past.

JFK's chapter (next) will indeed by narrative. :D

I'm actually not using Mosley as he's just too obvious, and I already had him in AKI. You'll probably see a lot of Monty, but most English fascists will be fictional.

Clandango

September 15th, 2013, 05:45 PM

Commandant Hershey of the Ohio Country Deathcamps? :eek:
It is best not to ask where he got the pygmies/midgets used for the songs detailing how those who failed to escape would be exported and enjoyed across the hemisphere.

Zoidberg12

September 15th, 2013, 06:24 PM

Remember how LordVentari made some propaganda posters for TTL. Well guess what, I was inspired to make one of my own. :D:cool: Heres propaganda from a rather overlooked nation from the Madnessverse, the Kingdom of Quebec.

Based on this (http://0.tqn.com/d/canadaonline/1/0/d/9/ww2lickthemoverthere.jpg).

Clandango

September 15th, 2013, 08:15 PM

Perhaps a group should take up the flag with a white cross on red. It was the flag given to the English by the Pope before they traded it with the French, after all.

Zoidberg12

September 15th, 2013, 09:16 PM

Heres another one, this time from the Republic of Virginia. Based on one Napo already did (http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8257/8614366483_c90a1840f2.jpg), except this poster has Joe Steele.

Zoidberg12

September 15th, 2013, 09:42 PM

Another one, from the Columbian nations.

Superman

September 15th, 2013, 10:24 PM

Another one, from the Columbian nations.
Isn't that line from the WWII poster featuring the flags of the Allies? I have a copy of it here.

Avskygod0

September 16th, 2013, 08:44 AM

You are sad yuo says???

Well this should help in being happines again:

http://filesmelt.com/dl/2013-09-13_15.22_.41_.jpg

Petike

September 16th, 2013, 10:17 AM

I have a question in regards to RU society: Since the official line towards citizens of Slavic descent is one of contempt and suspicion, what are the derogatory terms used for these ethnic groups by other RU citizens ? I know an OTL slur for central and eastern European immigrants was "bohunk", but is it different in this TL ?

Clandango

September 16th, 2013, 11:35 AM

Perhaps the Americans should set up a government-in-exile for Maryland using the black and yellow part of the flag. It was apparently used before Confederates decided to use the cross you show for their claimed Maryland government.

Napoleon53

September 16th, 2013, 03:49 PM

Amazing posters, Zoid! :D You're getting really good with those!

You are sad yuo says???

Well this should help in being happines again:

http://filesmelt.com/dl/2013-09-13_15.22_.41_.jpg

Lol! Yeah, that helps. :D

I have a question in regards to RU society: Since the official line towards citizens of Slavic descent is one of contempt and suspicion, what are the derogatory terms used for these ethnic groups by other RU citizens ? I know an OTL slur for central and eastern European immigrants was "bohunk", but is it different in this TL ?

That's a really good question. Here is a pretty conclusive list of all the ones that should be considered canon:

Perhaps the Americans should set up a government-in-exile for Maryland using the black and yellow part of the flag. It was apparently used before Confederates decided to use the cross you show for their claimed Maryland government.

That's an interesting idea. It'd be pretty neat for the Union to use if they ever have an occupational government in Maryland.

Zoidberg12

September 16th, 2013, 09:56 PM

Alright, I edited and re-uploaded the Missionary War Infobox above (added some commanders and other stuff) and added Jamaica's flag to the Colombian nations poster, plus I made it look more "old timey". I think it looks much better now.

Heres another wiki box for the last surviving Custer Youth Brigade veteran of the Missionary War. That photo in real life is off Harry Patch, one of the last surviving British WWI veterans.

Napoleon53

September 22nd, 2013, 01:09 AM

Those look great, Zoid! I love how you used "Abraham Johnson" like in my Flickr pictures. :D Excellent attention to detail.

This is more of a set-up chapter, just getting the necessary details down, so it's not extreme excitement like most of the other chapters, but it's still pretty freaking creepy. :eek: Next chapter is back to the normal style and will cover the Reservation Rebellions of the 1930s, and we'll get info on the increasingly independent-minded California. :D

THE EARLY YEARS OF
THE OSWALD BROTHERS
1917 - 1941
http://s1.hubimg.com/u/8339540_f260.jpg
Ex-mobsters Charles and Robert Oswald in Aeroforce uniforms circa 1945

On May 29th, 1917, in an Inferior ghetto in Shicagwa, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born. His father, Joseph Kennedy, and his mother, Rose, were Irish and devout Catholics employed by Colonel Goodyear Enterprises as factory workers. As a young boy, "Johnnie Boy" and his older brother Joe ("Junior"), roamed the streets as petty thieves. The other children (Rose, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia, Robert, Jean, and Teddy) disliked the two boys and refused to do anything with them.

It was on a quiet day in the ghetto, on April 4th, 1924, that seven year-old Johnnie was out for a walk. Unwittingly, he stumbled into a "middle class" neighborhood of Shicagwa. He saw, through a hole in a fence, a young boy playing teeball in a backyard. Johnnie was a baseball fanatic, and it was his favorite thing in the whole world. He called over to the other boy and the other boy let him through the gate. After all, he had no idea Johnnie was an "Inferior" who it was illegal to hang around. The boy introduced himself as Leslie King, Jr., age 11. The two played ball for an hour without any problems... until a brown-colored staff car pulled up out front of the King house. Jackboots clicked on the driveway as men dressed in ORRA and Custer Youth Brigade uniforms got out and started walking toward the children.

The youngest of the officers, a CYB corporal named Lyndon Johnson, came up and without a word picked up and threw Kennedy to the ground. "That's what you get for not playing with your own kind, Inferior!"

As it turned out, a neighbor across the street had recognized Kennedy as an Inferior and called up his local ORRA office to let them know. Another officer, Jack Williams, told King to go back inside his house. Williams then picked up Kennedy from off the ground and then screamed at him for about eight minutes, warning him to never, ever, ever play with his "Betters of Society" again. As Kennedy looked on in shock, Johnson joined in, telling him, "You filthy Irish aren't going to spread your disease among our future CYB members! Stay in the ghetto where you belong, or you and your whole family will be shipped out to Ohio Country and you'll never be heard from again!"

That day traumatized John F. Kennedy, who had had no real understanding of the segregation in the Union before then, and it remained glued in his memory forever. But it wasn't the abuse that upset him; starting when he was around ten, Johnnie began to see his life as unfair because his family was Inferior. He wanted to be a Better. By the time he was 13, he thoroughly planning out ideas for escaping the ghetto by any means necessary. As an older teen, in the early 1930s, Johnnie began doing work for the local mobs, and even met infamous crime lord Jay Edgar Hoover on one occasion. It was only natural that when Kennedy and his brother became adults that they started running absinthe for Hoover's syndicate. For years, Kennedy managed to earn quite the arrest record but the police and ORRA were never able to implicate him in anything major, so he usually walked after a few days in prison. He ran into CYB (and later ORRA) officer Johnson once more in 1935, when it was Johnson who arrested and turned him into authorities for absinthe possession.

In 1939, when he was 22, a large accidental furnace fire burned down the Shicagwa Police Department and the neighboring ORRA office, obliterating his and Junior's criminal records and all mugshots and information on them. After plotting over it with Junior, they agreed that this was the perfect moment to escape the slum life...

***

The two crafty brothers took up a job for the local mob to dispose of the bodies of two murdered Irish gangsters. They put them in the Kennedy family home under the cover of night and then silently strangled their family in their sleep. Then, they poured absinthe and gasoline all over the ratty house and lit it on fire. With that, the Kennedy family was legally dead. The two dead gangsters would stand in for Johnnie and Junior once authorities investigated the fire. All that was left of the clan was Johnnie and Junior, and they were legally dead.

Now, the brothers needed new identities. They stopped at the home of a forger and ordered two completely fake identities. John F. Kennedy took the names of his two favorite baseball players, Philadelphia Yankees pitcher Charles "Lefty" Lewis and Iowai Injuns catcher Mike Oswald, and combined them into the Scottish name "Charles Oswald," with "Custer" thrown in as a middle name. Junior became "Robert William Oswald." Then, they murdered the forger and burned down his lab. With that done, the Oswald brothers were now former members of their local Custer Youth Brigade and currently upstanding members of the Betters of Society. In 1941, both brothers joined the Union Aeroforce. Neither of them could have imagined what fate had in store for them...

Zoidberg12

September 22nd, 2013, 04:01 AM

Great update. :D I really liked the whole backstory behind the two "Oswald brothers". Of course, you're really good at making a story totally messed up. You know, John and Robert killing their entire family just to become accepted in the Republican Union's messed up society. :eek: I can see both Chuck and Robert Oswald becoming just as morally corrupt and willing to persecute their own for the sake of power as Joe Steele. With both Steele and Chuck Oswald running the RU (which we all know will happen) shits really going to hit the fan, even more than before.

Oh and your welocme for the latest info-box. I did indeed notice Abraham Johnson. :cool: I can actually see him as a major character by the present day ITTL. More info boxes are on the way. :)

Napoleon53

September 22nd, 2013, 06:03 AM

Great update. :D I really liked the whole backstory behind the two "Oswald brothers". Of course, you're really good at making a story totally messed up. You know, John and Robert killing their entire family just to become accepted in the Republican Union's messed up society. :eek: I can see both Chuck and Robert Oswald becoming just as morally corrupt and willing to persecute their own for the sake of power as Joe Steele. With both Steele and Chuck Oswald running the RU (which we all know will happen) shits really going to hit the fan, even more than before.

Oh and your welocme for the latest info-box. I did indeed notice Abraham Johnson. :cool: I can actually see him as a major character by the present day ITTL. More info boxes are on the way. :)

Thanks, Zoid!

One thing I'm sure most readers are picking up on is the eerie coincidental tendency of the Union officials to be involved in the murders of family members:

It's just a creepy little trivia bit that was accidental by me at first, and then I just rolled with it. :p

I can't wait for more info-boxes! :D And you're right, Johnson the Newspaper Man could be some sort of extreme journalist traveling to all the battlefields of yesteryear and collecting information on the remaining veterans. Fun stuff.

Napoleon53

September 22nd, 2013, 09:29 AM

Okay, back to the typical mad Madnessverse "history book format" chapters. :D I don't make any claim on being extremely knowledgeable on Native Americans, but I personally have a soft-spot for Indians since I could go to college free for being Cherokee. :D I did some research and I think this came out fairly well. It's definitely exciting and different! If anyone has any suggestions to make this better, toss 'em at me. The Prophet is clearly a nod to the Ghost Dancers from real history. This chapter also shows the black-and-grey morality of this TL, with the formerly "good guy" French eagerly working to keep the Indians backwards and isolated, even to the point of just outright mowing them down.

THE RESERVATION WAR AND THE BIRTH OF CALIFORNIA
http://static.enotes.com/images/major-acts/mac_02_img0124.jpg
Californian Prime Minister Pierre Alphonse Belrose (in suit) signs a treaty in 1940 with Native elders, officially ending the Indian conflict

Since the American War for Independence, the Indians had collectively gotten the shaft by the outside world. Starting around the 1830s, most of the nations of North America found themselves agreeing on one thing: that the Noble Savage had to be put out to pasture to make way for the advancing tide of "Christian Civilization." This despite the fact that many Natives were, in fact, Christian.

In the First Louisiana Rebellion (1860 - 1861), Chief Red Cloud of the Lakota Sioux had fought on behalf of Caesar against the Louisiana rebels. But when the war was over, Red Cloud found himself backstabbed by the Imperial government. From 1870 to 1900, he and his followers waged a bitter guerrilla war against the French. In the winter of 1890, the French military finally tracked him down near the Canadian border. In a final weeks-long battle in the snowy mountains, Red Cloud was captured and almost of his followers were exterminated. Red Cloud was taken to Europe and put in a Roman-style victory parade, after which he was charged with treason, murder of Imperial citizens, and resisting arrest. He was executed by firing squad in Paris on January 13th, 1901.

In the following years, Red Cloud became something of a martyr for the Native Cause. As one tribe after another found themselves thrust into the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada, the white governments worked to build border fences. By 1910, there was a gated off land in the middle of the North American West simply known as "The Reservation Lands." With little incentive to colonize, the whites simply "left the savages alone to tear each other apart in a grim, dark, apocalyptic society centered on tribal and family loyalties and blood-feuds," as Union historian Kenneth Jones-Moore put it in his 1958 tome entitled The Cruel Red Race: A Dismissal of the Myth of the Noble Savage.

And with that, the Indians found themselves on their own, with the only real place of contact and trading with the outside world being at the Great Salt Lake. Bitter wars followed, especially the Navajo-Ute War of 1922, which saw the first use of modern weapons like machine guns by Native warriors. With little clean water, alcohol became a substance worth killing for. Tribes built stills and defended them with their lives, and whites, especially Mexicans, ran whiskey across the border. Buffalo started going extinct in the Reservation Lands thanks to the use of belt-fed, vehicle-mounted "cattle guns," which scythed entire herds down in minutes. To make make matters even worse, white airship companies were offering "sky tours" of the Reservation Lands, with ad campaigns promoting "flying safely over a REAL war zone; never in human history as such a spectacle been available with no danger involved!"

But then came The Prophet. Also called "The Chosen One," "The Great Chief," and "Tom Smith." The Prophet was a Navajo shaman who was born in "Salt Lake City," the only "civilized town" in all of the Reservation Lands. He stayed there, living a life of solitude and meditation, studying various religions, even Islam and Buddhism, and contemplating on the meaning of life. By 1910, he had established a monastery of sorts in the Rocky Mountains, where he and his handful of followers practiced "The Ghost Dance," a ceremony to supposedly become one with nature and the spirits of the ancestors. He incorporated traits from all of the major tribal beliefs and religions of the world. By 1920, Californian newspapers were referring to "The Redskin Prophet of the Mountains" as being a cult leader. In the aftermath of the bloody 1922 Navajo-Ute War (which was actually more like tribal ethnic cleansing), he pushed his new faith as a way to bring together the Red Race and stop the killing. In a famous speech in Salt Lake City, he said:

"I urge my Red Brothers to put aside their hatred and rivalry. I urge them to put down their guns. I urge them to stop drinking the Tonic. I urge them to join hands, as one people, and bring forth a bright future for our peoples. You may follow my supposed religion, the Way of the Ghosts, you may practice the Ancient Beliefs of the Elders, or you may be Christian. It does not matter. Join me, and together we shall advance to a bright future and establish the Western Republic. We shall have a country. Where all are free, and where our children may come of age in a land where they are not born simply to replace those that were shot down before them."

This speech is considered by many to be the beginning of the Indian Reformation Movement. Thanks to many villages owning a communal and treasured talkie-box, The Prophet reached them over the airwaves. In 1925, the Navajo and Ute officially signed a "Forever Treaty," ending all hostilities between them. Beginning in 1927, a long string of tribes signed similar agreements and began to shut down their stills, give up their weapons to newly-established authorities, and finally build a functional society. Those tribes that did not cooperate with "The Prophet's Alliance" were "brought to justice." Out of the old wastelands and deserts and mountains was brought forth a new map, with specific tribes having their own "states." For the first time since the days of the ancient Mesoamerican Empires, the Indians found themselves establishing borders. White-style "police forces" were established to keep the new laws being drafted in Salt Lake City by the "Supreme Inter-Tribal Council of Chiefs" ("SITCC").

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Carlisle_pupils.jpg
Native students at Salt Lake City Academy, circa 1930, the first-ever established school in the Reservation Lands

The white governments of North America were not pleased with the recent turn of events with their Native neighbors. Joe Steele's Union even sent in "military advisers" to train anti-Prophet warriors to fight. This was very ironic, as the anti-Prophet Natives tended to be the most anti-Christian, too, and were known for massacring Christianized villages.

California's colonial governors began writing to Paris to complain about the situation. Colonial Governor Fabien Cornett said in a 1930-dated letter to the Emperor:

"The natives are restless, Your Majesty. They are building up. We granted them local autonomy, but now they rebel with a high hand and are acting like an independent nation! I'm sure you will find this as unacceptable as I do, Your Majesty, and I ask you to help us deal with this Indian Mohammad and his cultists. I am asking Your Majesty for enough troops to go into the Reservation Lands and crush these cretins once and for all. California's meager army cannot support a war effort of such magnitude alone."

The Imperial government was reluctant at first, hoping the Indian nation would dissolve. But in 1931, The elderly Prophet took to the Talkie Box to announce the signing of the Declaration of Western Independence:

"Today, on January 13th, 1931, the 30th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Red Cloud the Great, the Supreme Inter-Tribal Council of Chiefs signed a document in Salt Lake City. This document is an official announcement of our sovereignty as the Western Republic. Yes, my children, we have declared full and complete independence and sovereignty from all white governments. We are are now a nation. Rejoice, and thank the Spirits for this triumph of our people!"

Back in Saint François, the Californian capital, Governor Cornett spoke to crowds of angry citizens outside the capitol building:

"January 13th, 1931. A date which shall eternally live in infamy. On this day, the Red Man has stabbed his master in the back! The cultist savages have had the gall to rebel against the Imperial government! We granted them autonomy, and now these pagans have run with it and declared themselves independent! My fellow citizens, what is the Californian Bear going to do to these rebels? We are going to crush them! They are going to hear the Bear of California roar! I have consulted already by long-distance phone-call with our good Caesar, and he is at this very moment preparing the Imperial Army for action. God bless California, God bless Caesar, and God bless the Empire! Vive la Californie! Vive l'Empire!"

Within one week, Californian troops, cavalry, and landships crossed the border and attack several large villages with relative ease. But when the natives managed to pick themselves up from the shock of war, they halted he advance. A wave of brutal winter snow storms bogged down the Californian advance and made the use of landships impossible. Native snipers knew every inch of the terrain and picked off Californian soldiers almost non-stop. As the Imperial Army realized the massive tactical problems with waging a war halfway across the world, they struggled with a way to transport troops over. The Union would not allow them to use the Panama Canal as Steele and proclaimed himself neutral in the war, and it was illegal for military invasion forces to use the Canal. Shipping around the tip of South America would take forever. Finally, it was Imperial India which ended up providing the bulk of the invasion force. 50,000 Asian-Indian troops landed in California in April of 1931 with landship regiments and airships to boot. In June and July, with the snow now gone, the Prophet's meager little army found itself drastically outnumbered. To make it even tougher, Brazilian troops were showing up, too, making a thrust toward the southern border. By late October, 1931, Imperial aeroships were flying over Salt Lake City and bombarding it into ruins. On October 31st, The Prophet was killed by Imperial Aero-Marines, and the Empire declared victory.

http://www.trailquestarchaeology.com/userimages/Picture3.jpg
Foreign Legion troops are depicted in a firefight against Navajo Ghost Dancers in this famous 1943 painting

It was a bizarre conflict. It was definitely one of the most inter-cultural wars in the history of mankind. And it got even more bizarre when the Reservation Rebellion "ended." In 1932, thanks to the Indians refusing to give up, Foreign Legion troops were brought in from North Africa and they brought their camels along with them. The animals proved very reliable in the hot climates of the newly-christened Nevada and Utah regions, and soon even natives were learning to make use of the lumbering beasts. From that date onward, camels became a common sight in the North American west.

The official Imperial death toll of the Reservation War of 1931 was 1500, and the estimates for native casualties range from 8000 to 15000. In reality, since the conflict lasted long after The Prophet's demise and the official declaration of victory, the Imperial casualties were probably more along the lines of 4000. A never-ending period of occupation followed the declaration of victory, and by 1950, at least 7000 Imperial troops were killed. The Imperial government lifted the ban to settle the Reservation Lands in 1938, and the "cultural assimilation" of the Natives began.

In the end, if the war proved anything, it was that Paris was woefully incapable of managing a conflict in California. Napoleon fully admitted this, and in 1940 he signed the Californian Autonomy Order. It established the Kingdom of California, with Charles, Prince of Baden, as King. Pierre Alphonse Belrose was elected as Prime Minister of the new Californian Royal Parliament, and it was he who held most of the power. In that same year, he managed to drag and threaten a large number of chiefs and Native politicians into signing the Treaty of Saint François, officially "ending" all hostilities between Imperial-Royal and Indian forces. Guerrilla fighters would continue their "war for independence" well into the 1950s, with especially big flare-ups in 1953 and 1956.

Petike

September 22nd, 2013, 08:06 PM

I'll make a flag for California.

It will be shared by the good old Californian bruin and the bonapartist eagle. :D

Dathi THorfinnsson

September 22nd, 2013, 08:30 PM

I'll make a flag for California.

It will be shared by the good old Californian bruin and the bonapartist eagle. :D

Hmmm... a Bonapartist Deseret would then have a Mormon bee and a Bonapartist bee? ;)

Zoidberg12

September 22nd, 2013, 11:18 PM

I was really hoping that the Native American tribes would win the Rebellion, but oh well. The Reservation lands or individual tribes will probably be independent eventually, since you mentioned the Empire would fall by the present day.

On a positive note, independent Cali is pretty cool I guess. I can see Cali as both a mix of Francophone and Hispanic culture, or it more one than the other?

On a similar note, I can see Canada as the next Imperial Colony becoming a dominion like Kingdom.

Oh, and I recognized "the Prophet" as Piatue religious leader Wovoka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wovoka). Are they the same guy or did you just use his photo?

Napoleon53

September 23rd, 2013, 07:17 AM

I'll make a flag for California.

It will be shared by the good old Californian bruin and the bonapartist eagle. :D

Ossum possum! :D Can't wait to see it.

Hmmm... a Bonapartist Deseret would then have a Mormon bee and a Bonapartist bee? ;)

Even though that can't be used ITTL because there are no Mormons, that's an awesome idea. :D

I was really hoping that the Native American tribes would win the Rebellion, but oh well. The Reservation lands or individual tribes will probably be independent eventually, since you mentioned the Empire would fall by the present day.

On a positive note, independent Cali is pretty cool I guess. I can see Cali as both a mix of Francophone and Hispanic culture, or it more one than the other?

On a similar note, I can see Canada as the next Imperial Colony becoming a dominion like Kingdom.

Oh, and I recognized "the Prophet" as Piatue religious leader Wovoka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wovoka). Are they the same guy or did you just use his photo?

I totally wanted them to win, too, but it'll actually come back to bite the Imperials. They basically have just gotten their own version of Vietnam in the desert and mountains.

California is probably mainly Francophone by now, with maybe a quarter Hispanic population. Probably almost a quarter are English, too, descendents of Canadians or immigrants fearing war in the eastern NA countries.

Your spot on with Canada. I am indeed planning that. :D

As for The Prophet, I guess it's up to the reader, really. :D It might be Wovoka or it might not be, but I didn't intend it to be, but it very well could be. :p

Clandango

September 23rd, 2013, 08:59 AM

Now that the hopeful heir of Baden is gone, shall we see the remainder (Which wasn't really even part of Baden before the Napoleonic Wars) join the Helveticans or be disputed between the Rheinbund and Tripartite Empire? Heck, why not give it to the Pope?

Clandango

September 23rd, 2013, 09:00 AM

I'll make a flag for California.

It will be shared by the good old Californian bruin and the bonapartist eagle. :D
Or the good old Pear Flag.

Clandango

September 23rd, 2013, 09:03 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_(Ireland)

The Oswalds can try claiming they are from the Ulster Kennedys if anything comes to light, and make a fine distinction between O'Kennedys and McKennedys.

Petike

September 23rd, 2013, 12:07 PM

Or the good old Pear Flag.

Unfortunately, I've already used the bear for the country's roundel. :(

But hey, I could still do the pear flag, provided that it will be an early flag of the country. :)

Petike

September 23rd, 2013, 01:41 PM

Prior to becoming an ideologically Bonapartist country with strong French cultural and political influence, California had unilaterally adopted two national flags during the course of its early history:

The first flag, dubbed the "Pear Flag" or "Golden Pears Flag" was used for a number of years, though it still remains the shortest-lived of the Californian national flags. The lush and regnal colours of the vert pear tree and or/argent pears, seen in the centre field's national coat of arms and on the flag's side fields, were chosen to represent the bountiful agriculture of California.

The "Bear & Pear Flag" replaced the previous one and was longer-lived. It is noteworthy for being the first Californian flag to adopt the now traditional Californian iconography of the sable bear and the gules 'lone star', which dominate the later incarnations of the national flag and other national insignia. Despite greatly minimizing the presence of the pears, three of them still appear in the treetop of a simplified pear tree. The newly introduced symbol of the bear is seen leaning onto the tree.

FYI, I know that the "pear/bear flag mistake" is actually just a popular urban myth. Unfortunately, even the likes of Snopes.com fell for it. I've found multiple sources saying that such a mistake never took place in OTL. Still, in WMIT, it can work as a pretty neat allohistorical in-joke. ;) And yes, I'm working on the third, Bonapartist flag as well. I'll finish it soon, but it will take a bit more work.

Clandango

September 23rd, 2013, 02:35 PM

FYI, I know that the "pear/bear flag mistake" is actually just a popular urban myth. Unfortunately, even the likes of Snopes.com fell for it. I've found multiple sources saying that such a mistake never took place in OTL. Still, in WMIT, it can work as a pretty neat allohistorical in-joke. ;) And yes, I'm working on the third, Bonapartist flag as well. I'll finish it soon, but it will take a bit more work.
Didn't you see where it was listed? In The Repository of Lost Legends.

Petike

September 23rd, 2013, 03:24 PM

Ever since becoming firmly a part of the Bonapartist sphere of nations, California's flag was "adjusted" in order to better reflect its new political regime :

The third Californian flag, "The Bear and Eagle", was a fairly radical departure from the previous two national flags, though it kept the sable bear, the vert star and the vert, gules and argent fields present in the second flag. But gone were the or and argent pears, now replaced by the or Bonapartist eagle. The number of stars had also grown from a lone one to four, a change made supposedly "...to represent California bravely looking towards its future, good or bad, in all four general directions...". In order to create more variety in the flag, its Bonapartist half had the colours of its stars and horizontal fields (stripes) inverted. Another interesting touch is that, unlike on other Bonapartist national flags, the Bonapartist eagle is inverted, looking towards the left, instead of the right. According to the designers of the flag, this was implemented in order to accentuate that the fellow countries of the Bonapartist alliance look towards little, young California as a faithful and equal ally. To further emphasize this notion, the sable bear passant on California's half of the flag faces towards the eagle - symbolizing that California and the other Bonapartist nations hide no secrets from each other.

Zoidberg12

September 23rd, 2013, 05:03 PM

Wow Petike, those are some awesome flags. :D Since Cali has been a Bonaprtist Kingdom from the get go, I think the first two would be proposed flags and just that. Still great though.

I'm curious to see what the flags of the RU's states are. Some might be similar to OTL, but all would probably be different, the newer ones more so than the older ones.

Napoleon53

September 24th, 2013, 02:17 AM

Petike: Those flags are nothing short of amazing! Well done, my good sir. :D They look very unique and still definitely California-appropriate. Make sure you post them in the flag thread!

Now that the hopeful heir of Baden is gone, shall we see the remainder (Which wasn't really even part of Baden before the Napoleonic Wars) join the Helveticans or be disputed between the Rheinbund and Tripartite Empire? Heck, why not give it to the Pope?

Oh, I'll detail more in the next "Bonaparte Generation" chapter. The King of California is one of the heirs who is not expected to become the leader of Baden. Like Britain's Prince Harry now. Also, in the next Bon. Gen. chapter, we'll see Baden get a rank up and become the Kingdom of Baden.

I'm curious to see what the flags of the RU's states are. Some might be similar to OTL, but all would probably be different, the newer ones more so than the older ones.

You know, I hadn't even considered that. Definitely something we'll do in the future.

Petike

September 24th, 2013, 10:14 AM

Petike: Those flags are nothing short of amazing! Well done, my good sir. :D They look very unique and still definitely California-appropriate. Make sure you post them in the flag thread !

Are the first two canon ?

Napoleon53

September 24th, 2013, 10:41 AM

Are the first two canon ?

Yeah, I think so. They can just be regional flags before the Kingdom was installed. It'd be to California ITTL what the Jack-and-Stripes was to OTL USA. :)

Zoidberg12

September 24th, 2013, 08:30 PM

Sorry I haven't had the new guest chapters up yet, but I have been working on them. Just a combo of schoolwork and slight writers block kept me from finishing them. Hopefully both of them will be done by early October.

Anyways, I made a Polandball comic for this timeline, because why not? :p For those who don't know its a meme/webcomic where countries are represented as balls and a variety of different things are played out from there (spoofing international relations, history etc.). Enjoy. :)

Napoleon53

September 25th, 2013, 05:54 AM

That... That is one of the funniest things ever. :D I laughed out loud for a solid minute.

Good luck on the Africa chapter!

Clandango

September 25th, 2013, 07:17 AM

Also, in the next Bon. Gen. chapter, we'll see Baden get a rank up and become the Kingdom of Baden.

shame they don't go back to something unique and become an Margravate. Which leads to two other questions.

Are the maches/Military Fronties in Romania, Banat, Croatia, and Slavonia still around? As I recall, The Illryian Provinces were some of the few areas Napoleon didn't institute conscription, as they were already doing that to defend from the Turks.

Second, what about Electors? Do countries still have them? France did under Napoleon, though mostly taken from lists of Notables as he set up a new aristocracy. Related to that, how do European countries feel in the dozens of ennobled families Nappy set up and ordered them to finance? I think it took up a third of Berg or Westpahlia's budget. I could grab the book I found it in from a nearby library if you want more details.

Clandango

September 25th, 2013, 07:20 AM

Yeah, I think so. They can just be regional flags before the Kingdom was installed. It'd be to California ITTL what the Jack-and-Stripes was to OTL USA. :)

That and it will bring so many cracks about things going pear shaped or how their women use corsets to bind their breasts and put all the weight in their rumps. Anyone know if there are hats for men that look like stems?

Zoidberg12

September 26th, 2013, 12:53 AM

Alright, I made some prototype flags for some states in the Republican Union, particularly ones created out of former French Louisiana. Theses flags are not yet in a "fully finished" state, but with a little sprucing up they would be perfect.

From left to right on top; North Dakota and Oregon

From left to right on bottom, South Dakota and East Lewisiana

Superman

September 26th, 2013, 12:58 AM

Sorry I haven't had the new guest chapters up yet, but I have been working on them. Just a combo of schoolwork and slight writers block kept me from finishing them. Hopefully both of them will be done by early October.

Anyways, I made a Polandball comic for this timeline, because why not? :p For those who don't know its a meme/webcomic where countries are represented as balls and a variety of different things are played out from there (spoofing international relations, history etc.). Enjoy. :)
I like it, but what does clay mean?

Another wikibox folks. :D Heres Napoleon II. If I made any mistakes let me know.

On a similar note I re-uploaded the Missionary War infobox a few pages back as I added some more commanders Napo mentioned which I forgot about. What can I say, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. :p

I'll also have to reload Napo I and add all those offices I missed, but have on this info box thankfully.

Napoleon53

September 27th, 2013, 06:26 AM

That looks great, Zoid! I can't wait to see the boxes for all the Emperors. Only thing I might suggest is eliminating "Prince of Bombay" from next to Franz Joseph, since he only held that title for a short while, and putting (adopted) next to the Hapsburg children.

It's almost time for the Big One, guys. :D:eek: This chapter is complete except for Holland and a couple small countries (Andorra, Quebec...) and I'll add them later. The next chapters will be about the North American affairs during the early 1950s, at least two cultural updates, and then... war. :eek: BTW, you'll notice that I've started using OTL Fascist Italian style uniforms on the modern French Imperials. I think it works quite well, and the huge eagle works perfectly as a Bonaparte eagle. :D

THE COLD WAR BEGINS
THE CATHOLIC CAMP: "THE LEAGUE OF THE THREE EMPERORS"
http://ilfotos.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/147111.jpg?w=450&h=602
Caesar Napoleon VI (center, left), his officer corps, and several minor nobles (such as Austrian general Baron Adolf von Branau) leaving a parade at the Victory Tower, 1950

By 1950, everyone saw a conflict on the horizon. It was obvious that Steele wanted to go to war before he got too old, the Southron nations badly wanted to put down their long-standing northern enemy, and Prussia was growing restless and tired of the status quo, so Napoleon VI launched a program of preparedness for any event. He built up border fortifications, built massive, sprawling bunker complexes, and pressed for further advancements in military technology, including examining the possibilities of "harnessing the atom" for military usage. The Cold War had begun.

THE TRIPARTITE EMPIRE:

The Bonaparte family's stranglehold on Europe was ancient by 1950. Quite simply, no one was alive to remember the days when France and its successor, the Tripartite Empire, was the newest kid on the European block, continually getting the snot beaten out of it by everyone in sight until the original Corsican Ogre managed to get Austria to join in on his pounding of Britain. The last veteran of the Wars of Napoleon I, Polish corporal Casimir Polanski who served in the French Army from 1815 onward, died at age 115 in 1910. Nowadays, the Empire was a European establishment, and the days of the Revolution and the Great Wars of the Empire were well and truly over.

When Napoleon IV took the throne in 1903 following his father's heart attack, he let it be known that he was fairly progressive, but not some sort of liberal. Whereas Napoleon III had been lax and (some said) spineless, Napoleon IV immediately tried to undo the cultural and political changes made by his father, and he proved he wasn't playing games when he participated in the Missionary War. He welcomed technological innovation while maintaining a strong militaristic state and flexing his authority, making sure no one questioned the Empire's might. When he died of pneumonia at age 71 in 1930, his 53 year-old son Napoleon V took the throne. The funeral ceremony was huge, and Napoleon V made sure his father had the "most elaborate funeral in history since Napoleon I." Almost every head of state in the civilized world showed up to pay their respects, from the Egyptian Royal Family, to Arabian sheiks, to Far East Asian petty kings. The funeral was one of the very few times Napoleon V wore a uniform, the others being other leaders' funerals and his own wedding.

http://www.jugosloveni.info/fotografije-tito/330047088.jpg
Napoleon IV lying in state at La Crypte Impériale in Paris, 1930. Bonapartes formed the group of pallbearers on the left side, while Hapsburgs formed the group on the right. The soldiers and officials on either sides of the room were various generals, counts, and officers from the extended Imperial Bloc.

The uniform issue was evidence of what was to come. Historians consider Napoleon V to be "one of the most indifferent leaders of the 20th century." Virginia-born historian Nelson Harvey said in his 1960 History of the Imperial Family that, "Napoleon V was a biologist at heart. He was obsessed with science and cared little for matters of state, or really anything to do with being lord and master of Europe. A suit and tie suited him far better than a chest full of medals and a bicorne." Napoleon V was rarely seen in public during his reign, and he usually stayed inside with his family or debated issues with scientists; he was rarely even photographed. One of the few moments of his using his power for personal reasons, though, was when he met an "evolutionist" at one of his lectures. The theory of evolution, that man had evolved from apes or "some such nonsense," deeply offended the pious Catholic emperor, and he worked to silence all such proponents of the idea. At the time, almost all evolutionists were Imperial citizens. The result of the crackdown was that the evolutionary theory was virtually dead by 1950.

Joe Steele had come to power in the Republican Union just a year before Napoleon V's coronation, and Steele recognized Napoleon V's weakness instantly and eagerly, famously calling him "a wimpy sucker." In almost all matters, Napoleon V was scared to death what Steele might do in reaction, such as during the Reservation Rebellions, when Steele's closure of the Panama Canal to Imperial troops almost ended with Imperial defeat in the Reservation Rebellions, and Steele had done it solely to put his thumb into Caesar's eye and antagonize him. Other leaders simply refused to take him seriously after that affair. The Empire hadn't seen such weakness since the morbidly obese Napoleon III gave Cornwall back to England, which proved to be a horrible decision when England went fascist under Churchill thirty years later. The rest of Napoleon V's reign flew by in a dull, weak blur until he died at age 73 in 1950.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6hNgiopT7SI/Tzw3Wl-Ix5I/AAAAAAAAAP8/Eu2Ur-OP1wI/s1600/span-am+war+cartoon.jpg
Cartoon showing Napoleon IV taming the American Swine in the past while Napoleon V is forced to bow down to it in the present

http://image1.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2009/255/41658464_125287239677.jpg
Photo of Caesar Napoleon V printed in a 1948 French newspaper

Now came a time of change. 1950 was an explosive year, with multiple key world leaders dying or stepping down, from the King of Sweden to the leader of the Carolinas. The Empire needed a strong hand to guide them through a time of world economic and political uncertainty, and they got just that in the young, handsome, charismatic Napoleon VI.

http://mylifeparttwo.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/mussolini-tank.jpg
Caesar Napoleon VI speaks before the Imperial Army for the first official time

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5465/9594225829_ed81a4b4ea.jpg
Poster celebrating the coronation of Napoleon VI in the six official languages of the Empire (French, German, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, and Czech Bohemian)

Napoleon VI was 35 when he took the throne in 1950, and he immediately set out to reverse "thirty years of stagnation." He cracked down on the Reservation Lands, sending a wave of Austrian landship corps and crack European infantry in. He restarted the universal draft that had been shut down following the death of Napoleon II, meaning all male European citizens of the Empire over age 20 had to serve a mandatory year in the armed forces. He opened up the shipyards again, building a new fleet of submarines. He began numerous public works programs to give work to the unemployed, like the construction of the massive Victory Tower, commemorating the Bonapartist victories of the previous century. And this was all just in his first year as leader.

Another thing that rose Napoleon VI's popularity was his Italian wife, Caesarina Silvia, and their only child, Princess Napoleona, who was 15 in 1950. It was certainly a change of pace to have a female heir to the throne. There was still a chance that more children would be born, including a son which would replace Napoleona as heir, but it was known that Silvia suffered from multiple health problems. Napoleon and Silvia seemed content to just have Napoleona, and the nation adored her. It was a popular parlor game across Europe to try to guess who the future empress would marry, and the press constantly hounded her; a simple photo of her at a ball with a young army officer could cause newspaper buzz for weeks.

Though originally a part of the Confederation of the Rhine, by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Baden had been the favored micronation of the Bonapartes, due to Napoleon I's stepdaughter marrying the Grand Duke. Over the century and a half that had passed since, Baden was allowed to maintain its own affairs and the Empire treated it as an important nation worthy of respect. In 1931, Baden troops had been among the first to participate in the Reservation Rebellion. From 1936 to 1942, Baden troops fought in several small wars in Africa. By 1950, Baden had proved its loyalty indisputably, and Caesar elevated the Grand Duchy to a Kingdom. Young King Karl I (formerly Grand Duke Karl III) was quite pleased with these events.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/11/26/article-1333396-0C3FCDD8000005DC-78_233x423.jpg
King Karl I of Baden

CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE:
http://static.newworldencyclopedia.org/5/52/Karlhabsburg.jpg
Kaiser Karl I (Charles von Bonaparte-Hapsburg) of the Rheinbund

The predominantly Catholic Rheinbund was at the center of the "Cold War" breaking out between the Tripartite Empire and the Prussian Empire in the early 1950s. While Kaiser Karl I, the son of Franz Joseph I, Napoleon II's adopted Hapsburg son, was on friendly terms with the Prussian Kaiser Eitel Wilhelm I and Crown Prince Helmut Wilhelm, their countries were rivals. Despite often using Karl I as an ambassador to Berlin, Napoleon VI could not help the increasing and ancient tensions between the Bonaparte-Hapsburgs and the Hohenzollern-Wettins from getting worse. When war would finally come, Karl I didn't want to be caught with his trousers down. In early 1951, a massive line of trenches, bunkers, tunnels, and weapons installations were constructed along the Prusso-Rheinbund border. In Frankfurt, the capital of the Rheinbund, he began constructing artillery forts surrounding the city, as well as dozens of redoubts and trenchlines in the surrounding suburbs and countryside.

Karl I was 63 and in poor health in 1950, and his oldest son, Karl II, was there to take over in case he died. His younger son, Prince Franz, actually became heavily involved with Princess Napoleona starting in 1952. Franz and Napoleona were technically cousins, and both were Catholic, so the couple was looked upon with approval and for possibly eliminating the possibility of Napoleona marrying Sergei Romanov, son of the 76 year-old Prime Minister Catherine Romanov of the Russian Republic. Sergei was utterly loathed by the Bonaparte family and many said he was the bastard son of Catherine and one of her generals, and thereby not eligible for to hold a the title of consort in the Empire. In 1953, Franz and Napoleona made it official and announced they would be getting married. On April 2nd, 1953, they were married at Notre Dame Cathedral amidst a spectacle of pomp and circumstance. Their popularity helped cool the Cold War down, but only a little.

http://www.catalogs.com/info/bestof/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Rainier-III-.jpg
Rare color photograph of Franz and Napoleona directly after their wedding

THE ITALIAN KINGDOMS:

When Carlo I of the Two Sicilies died in 1939, his only child, Julius, had died already, as had all of Carlo's siblings and immediate family, leaving him without heir. Several months followed with no Sicilian leader as the Bonaparte family tried to piece together what should happen next. Finally, after nation-wide votes, the Kingdom of Italy, under Hapsburg descendent Massimiliano III, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies agreed to merge into one Italian state, the Empire of the Two Italies, in a system where Massimiliano held the mostly-ceremonial titles of "King of Italy" and "King of the Two Sicilies," while legally being "Emperor of All the Italians." The transition was smooth and peaceful, and the two nations quickly adapted. This made Massimiliano the fourth man in Europe to hold the title of emperor.

Massimiliano III died in 1950 at age 71 from chronic respiratory infection and a series of strokes. His 45 year-old son became Emperor as Massimiliano IV, and continued most of his father's policies while also reviving the universal draft. The Italian economy went up and up following his coronation, and by 1952, it was one of the fastest-growing ones in Europe.

Ireland in the 1940s and the first half of the 1950s was a volatile place. Just across a thin strip of water was fascist Scotland and England, brimming with hatred for all Catholic Irishmen. The Irish king, Dominic III, the great-great-great-grandson of Joseph Bonaparte, was extremely "obnoxious and obtuse," according to his cousin Napoleon VI, but they were good friends and often were seen together at parades and political events. Dominic was extremely aggressive and strong-arming in diplomacy, and he was partly to blame for the increasing world tensions. In 1951, he conducted massive military exercises and artillery tests that almost made Scotland think they were under attack. Until several phone calls between the governments put Scotland's fears to rest, for several long hours the world was on the brink of total war.

In 1952, following the military exercise fiasco, French and Spanish troops landed in Ireland and took up positions on permanent bases along the coast opposite of Scotland. After that, Napoleon VI pretty much took over all international relations for his bumbling Irish cousin.

KINGDOM OF HOLLAND:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Militairen_tijdens_de_Niau_ %28Nederlandsch_Indische_Athletiek_Unie%29_wandelm ars_Soerabaja_TMnr_60007159.jpg
The Dutch Army on parade, Amsterdam, 1951

Napoleon VI (born 1915) Caesar of the Tripartite Empire, Emperor of the United Empire of Brazil and Rio de la Plata, Lord of Mann, Mediator of the Helvetic Confederation, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and Protector of the Free City of Lisbon.
Napoleona (born 1935) Princess Imperial of the Tripartite Empire, Princess Imperial of the United Empire of Brazil and Rio de la Plata, Princess of Bohemia, Duchess of Reichstadt, Princess of Bombay
Charles I (Karl I) (born 1887) Emperor/Kaiser of the Confederation of the Rhine
Massimiliano III (born 1879 died 1950) King of Italy, Count of Vienna
Massimiliano IV (born 1905) Emperor of Italy, Count of Vienna, King of Italy, King of the Two Sicilies
Carlo I (born 1847 died 1939) Last King of the Two Sicilies
Charles Louis II (born 1865) King of Andorra
Dominic IV (born 1890) King of Ireland
Marie I (born 1858 died 1940) Queen of Quebec
Pierre I (born 1888) King of Quebec
Louise Napoleona I (born 1894) Queen of Holland
Adriana I (born 1849 died 1949) Princess of Lucca and Piombino
Antonio I (born 1874 died 1950) Prince of Lucca and Piombino
Antonio II (born 1907) Prince of Lucca and Piombino

Clandango

September 27th, 2013, 07:07 AM

I want to hear the story of the man in white guarding the road block. OR whatever it is.

Zoidberg12

September 27th, 2013, 09:05 PM

Heres yet another infobox, this time for Napoleon III. :cool: Napoleon IV, V and a redone Napoleon I will be up next.

Zoidberg12

September 28th, 2013, 12:51 AM

Heres Napoleon IV. :cool:

Napoleon53

September 28th, 2013, 01:09 AM

Those look great, Zoid! I especially love the painting of Napoleon IV. :D

Zoidberg12

September 28th, 2013, 01:17 AM

Those look great, Zoid! I especially love the painting of Napoleon IV. :D

Your welcome. I believe the "painting" of Napoleon IV was a Vanity Fair cartoon of Victor Prince Napoleon OTL. Also I changed the things you mentioned for the Napo II infobox.

What did you think of my four prototype RU state flags?

Napoleon53

September 28th, 2013, 04:51 AM

Your welcome. I believe the "painting" of Napoleon IV was a Vanity Fair cartoon of Victor Prince Napoleon OTL. Also I changed the things you mentioned for the Napo II infobox.

What did you think of my four prototype RU state flags?

I just noticed one mistake: you listed Marie of Quebec as Napoleon IV's daughter when she was actually Napoleon III's daughter (she's Napoleon IV's sister and one year older). She dies in the next update at 82 years old.

Like the flags! Need a bit of cleanup, but I like the designs. :)

Napoleon53

September 28th, 2013, 05:25 AM

This chapter's all finished now! Enjoy and give me some comments. Especially let me know if you spot a mistake. The next chapter will have an appearance by the unofficial mascot of AH.com, good ol' Tricky Dick himself. :D
THE COLD WAR BEGINS
THE CATHOLIC BLOC: "THE LEAGUE OF THE THREE EMPERORS"
http://ilfotos.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/147111.jpg?w=450&h=602
Caesar Napoleon VI (center, left), his officer corps, and several minor nobles (such as Austrian general Baron Adolf von Branau) leaving a parade at the Victory Tower, 1950

By 1950, everyone saw a conflict on the horizon. It was obvious that Steele wanted to go to war before he got too old, the Southron nations badly wanted to put down their long-standing northern enemy, and Prussia was growing restless and tired of the status quo, so Napoleon VI launched a program of preparedness for any event. He built up border fortifications, built massive, sprawling bunker complexes, and pressed for further advancements in military technology, including examining the possibilities of "harnessing the atom" for military usage. The Cold War had begun.

THE TRIPARTITE EMPIRE:

The Bonaparte family's stranglehold on Europe was ancient by 1950. Quite simply, no one was alive to remember the days when France and its successor, the Tripartite Empire, was the newest kid on the European block, continually getting the snot beaten out of it by everyone in sight until the original Corsican Ogre managed to get Austria to join in on his pounding of Britain. The last veteran of the Wars of Napoleon I, Polish corporal Casimir Polanski who served in the French Army from 1815 onward, died at age 115 in 1910. Nowadays, the Empire was a European establishment, and the days of the Revolution and the Great Wars of the Empire were well and truly over.

When Napoleon IV took the throne in 1903 following his father's heart attack, he let it be known that he was fairly progressive, but not some sort of liberal. Whereas Napoleon III had been lax and (some said) spineless, Napoleon IV immediately tried to undo the cultural and political changes made by his father, and he proved he wasn't playing games when he participated in the Missionary War. He welcomed technological innovation while maintaining a strong militaristic state and flexing his authority, making sure no one questioned the Empire's might. When he died of pneumonia at age 71 in 1930, his 53 year-old son Napoleon V took the throne. The funeral ceremony was huge, and Napoleon V made sure his father had the "most elaborate funeral in history since Napoleon I." Almost every head of state in the civilized world showed up to pay their respects, from the Egyptian Royal Family, to Arabian sheiks, to Far East Asian petty kings. The funeral was one of the very few times Napoleon V wore a uniform, the others being other leaders' funerals and his own wedding.

http://www.jugosloveni.info/fotografije-tito/330047088.jpg

Napoleon IV lying in state at La Crypte Impériale in Paris, 1930. Bonapartes formed the group of pallbearers on the left side, while Hapsburgs formed the group on the right. The soldiers and officials on either sides of the room were various generals, counts, and officers from the extended Imperial Bloc.

The uniform issue was evidence of what was to come. Historians consider Napoleon V to be "one of the most indifferent leaders of the 20th century." Virginia-born historian Nelson Harvey said in his 1960 History of the Imperial Family that, "Napoleon V was a biologist at heart. He was obsessed with science and cared little for matters of state, or really anything to do with being lord and master of Europe. A suit and tie suited him far better than a chest full of medals and a bicorne." Napoleon V was rarely seen in public during his reign, and he usually stayed inside with his family or debated issues with scientists; he was rarely even photographed. One of the few moments of his using his power for personal reasons, though, was when he met an "evolutionist" at one of his lectures. The theory of evolution, that man had evolved from apes or "some such nonsense," deeply offended the pious Catholic emperor, and he worked to silence all such proponents of the idea. At the time, almost all evolutionists were Imperial citizens. The result of the crackdown was that the evolutionary theory was virtually dead by 1950.

Joe Steele had come to power in the Republican Union just a year before Napoleon V's coronation, and Steele recognized Napoleon V's weakness instantly and eagerly, famously calling him "a wimpy sucker." In almost all matters, Napoleon V was scared to death what Steele might do in reaction, such as during the Reservation Rebellions, when Steele's closure of the Panama Canal to Imperial troops almost ended with Imperial defeat in the Reservation Rebellions, and Steele had done it solely to put his thumb into Caesar's eye and antagonize him. Other leaders simply refused to take him seriously after that affair. The Empire hadn't seen such weakness since the morbidly obese Napoleon III gave Cornwall back to England, which proved to be a horrible decision when England went fascist under Churchill thirty years later. The rest of Napoleon V's reign flew by in a dull, weak blur until he died at age 73 in 1950.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6hNgiopT7SI/Tzw3Wl-Ix5I/AAAAAAAAAP8/Eu2Ur-OP1wI/s1600/span-am+war+cartoon.jpg
Cartoon showing Napoleon IV taming the American Swine in the past while Napoleon V is forced to bow down to it in the present

http://image1.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2009/255/41658464_125287239677.jpg
Photo of Caesar Napoleon V printed in a 1948 French newspaper

Now came a time of change. 1950 was an explosive year, with multiple key world leaders dying or stepping down, from the King of Sweden to the leader of the Carolinas. The Empire needed a strong hand to guide them through a time of world economic and political uncertainty, and they got just that in the young, handsome, charismatic Napoleon VI.

http://mylifeparttwo.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/mussolini-tank.jpg
Caesar Napoleon VI speaks before the Imperial Army for the first official time

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5465/9594225829_ed81a4b4ea.jpg
Poster celebrating the coronation of Napoleon VI in the six official languages of the Empire (French, German, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, and Czech Bohemian)

Napoleon VI was 35 when he took the throne in 1950, and he immediately set out to reverse "thirty years of stagnation." He cracked down on the Reservation Lands, sending a wave of Austrian landship corps and crack European infantry in. He restarted the universal draft that had been shut down following the death of Napoleon II, meaning all male European citizens of the Empire over age 20 had to serve a mandatory year in the armed forces. He opened up the shipyards again, building a new fleet of submarines. He began numerous public works programs to give work to the unemployed, like the construction of the massive Victory Tower, commemorating the Bonapartist victories of the previous century. And this was all just in his first year as leader.

Another thing that rose Napoleon VI's popularity was his Italian wife, Caesarina Silvia, and their only child, Princess Napoleona, who was 15 in 1950. It was certainly a change of pace to have a female heir to the throne. There was still a chance that more children would be born, including a son which would replace Napoleona as heir, but it was known that Silvia suffered from multiple health problems. Napoleon and Silvia seemed content to just have Napoleona, and the nation adored her. It was a popular parlor game across Europe to try to guess who the future empress would marry, and the press constantly hounded her; a simple photo of her at a ball with a young army officer could cause newspaper buzz for weeks.

Though originally a part of the Confederation of the Rhine, by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Baden had been the favored micronation of the Bonapartes, due to Napoleon I's stepdaughter marrying the Grand Duke. Over the century and a half that had passed since, Baden was allowed to maintain its own affairs and the Empire treated it as an important nation worthy of respect. In 1931, Baden troops had been among the first to participate in the Reservation Rebellion. From 1936 to 1942, Baden troops fought in several small wars in Africa. By 1950, Baden had proved its loyalty indisputably, and Caesar elevated the Grand Duchy to a Kingdom. Young King Karl I (formerly Grand Duke Karl III) was quite pleased with these events.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/11/26/article-1333396-0C3FCDD8000005DC-78_233x423.jpg
King Karl I of Baden

CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE:
http://static.newworldencyclopedia.org/5/52/Karlhabsburg.jpg
Kaiser Karl I (Charles von Bonaparte-Hapsburg) of the Rheinbund

The predominantly Catholic Rheinbund was at the center of the "Cold War" breaking out between the Tripartite Empire and the Prussian Empire in the early 1950s. While Kaiser Karl I, the son of Franz Joseph I, Napoleon II's adopted Hapsburg son, was on friendly terms with the Prussian Kaiser Eitel Wilhelm I and Crown Prince Helmut Wilhelm, their countries were rivals. Despite often using Karl I as an ambassador to Berlin, Napoleon VI could not help the increasing and ancient tensions between the Bonaparte-Hapsburgs and the Hohenzollern-Wettins from getting worse. When war would finally come, Karl I didn't want to be caught with his trousers down. In early 1951, a massive line of trenches, bunkers, tunnels, and weapons installations were constructed along the Prusso-Rheinbund border. In Frankfurt, the capital of the Rheinbund, he began constructing artillery forts surrounding the city, as well as dozens of redoubts and trenchlines in the surrounding suburbs and countryside.

Karl I was 63 and in poor health in 1950, and his oldest son, Karl II, was there to take over in case he died. His younger son, Prince Franz, actually became heavily involved with Princess Napoleona starting in 1952. Franz and Napoleona were technically cousins, and both were Catholic, so the couple was looked upon with approval and for possibly eliminating the possibility of Napoleona marrying Sergei Romanov, son of the 76 year-old Prime Minister Catherine Romanov of the Russian Republic. Sergei was utterly loathed by the Bonaparte family and many said he was the bastard son of Catherine and one of her generals, and thereby not eligible for to hold a the title of consort in the Empire. In 1953, Franz and Napoleona made it official and announced they would be getting married. On April 2nd, 1953, they were married at Notre Dame Cathedral amidst a spectacle of pomp and circumstance. Their popularity helped cool the Cold War down, but only a little.

http://www.catalogs.com/info/bestof/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Rainier-III-.jpg
Rare color photograph of Franz and Napoleona directly after their wedding

THE ITALIAN KINGDOMS:

When Carlo I of the Two Sicilies died in 1939, his only child, Julius, had died already, as had all of Carlo's siblings and immediate family, leaving him without heir. Several months followed with no Sicilian leader as the Bonaparte family tried to piece together what should happen next. Finally, after nation-wide votes, the Kingdom of Italy, under Hapsburg descendent Massimiliano III, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies agreed to merge into one Italian state, the Empire of the Two Italies, in a system where Massimiliano held the mostly-ceremonial titles of "King of Italy" and "King of the Two Sicilies," while legally being "Emperor of All the Italians." The transition was smooth and peaceful, and the two nations quickly adapted. This made Massimiliano the fourth man in Europe to hold the title of emperor.

Massimiliano III died in 1950 at age 71 from chronic respiratory infection and a series of strokes. His 45 year-old son became Emperor as Massimiliano IV, and continued most of his father's policies while also reviving the universal draft. The Italian economy went up and up following his coronation, and by 1952, it was one of the fastest-growing ones in Europe.

Ireland in the 1940s and the first half of the 1950s was a volatile place. Just across a thin strip of water was fascist Scotland and England, brimming with hatred for all Catholic Irishmen. The Irish king, Dominic III, the great-great-great-grandson of Joseph Bonaparte, was extremely "obnoxious and obtuse," according to his cousin Napoleon VI, but they were good friends and often were seen together at parades and political events. Dominic was extremely aggressive and strong-arming in diplomacy, and he was partly to blame for the increasing world tensions. In 1951, he conducted massive military exercises and artillery tests that almost made Scotland think they were under attack. Until several phone calls between the governments put Scotland's fears to rest, for several long hours the world was on the brink of total war.

In 1952, following the military exercise fiasco, French and Spanish troops landed in Ireland and took up positions on permanent bases along the coast opposite of Scotland. After that, Napoleon VI pretty much took over all international relations for his bumbling Irish cousin.

KINGDOM OF HOLLAND:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Militairen_tijdens_de_Niau_ %28Nederlandsch_Indische_Athletiek_Unie%29_wandelm ars_Soerabaja_TMnr_60007159.jpg
The Dutch Army on parade, Amsterdam, 1951

The Kingdom of Holland was still under Queen Louise Napoleona I in 1950, and she was still angering her family with her protestantism. By the 1950s, she had solidified her control over Southeast Asia, and had begun building up in her section of Australia. There were troubles brewing in China, however, where the locals were tiring of the 50 year occupation. Armed revolts had broken out in several provinces, and in June of 1951, Dutch troops (including Indonesians for the first time) were sent in to combat the rebels. An endless guerrilla war stretched on for years as local warlords and petty rulers sided with or against the Dutch colonials. In January, 1952, following the beheadings of twenty Dutch soldiers by Chinese rebels, Louise Napoleona ordered several battalions to torch and destroy several villages. Dutch troops mercilessly shot and hacked to death with kukris over 400 Chinese civilians. The rebels responded by blowing up the colonial governor's mansion in Indochina. The Dutch, in turn, responded with airship barrages of entire valleys, destroying whole towns in minutes and killing an estimated 10,000 people. By 1953, over 300,000 Dutch, Australian, and Indonesian troops were occupying Southern China, and the brutal atrocities committed by them were played down in Europe. The brutality only seemed to make the Chinese more determined, however, and so the Sino-Dutch War stretched on.

Back in Europe, Louise Napoleona was considered a wild card, with many doubting her loyalty to her Catholic cousin in Paris and questioning her increasingly pro-Prussian outlook and barbaric actions in China. Finally, though, in 1954 she signed an alliance promising to come to the Tripartite Empire's side if war broke out. Her lucrative oil supplies were especially key, as the Middle East was fairly unreliable and unstable and Russia, the largest oil exporter in the entire world, was a possible future enemy.

Louise Napoleona I's consort was William, a half-Prussian, half-Danish noble. Of their nine children, the oldest male, William Napoleon I, was the crown prince. 34 in 1950, William Napoleon was fairly popular, and he seemed more pro-Catholic than his mother, and rumors said secretly he was a Catholic. His chances for becoming king were crushed, though, in 1953, when he died in a tragic car accident that killed him, his wife, his young daughter, and their driver. All of Europe showed its respects and most all the leaders of the world were present for the family funeral. After that, the position of crown prince passed to William Napoleon's younger brother, Louis Napoleon III. His views were largely unknown, and he was rather quiet and distant, never giving Caesar a chance to see where his true loyalties lied.

KINGDOM OF QUEBEC:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/De_Bono1.jpg/388px-De_Bono1.jpg
King Pierre I of Quebec

Quebec was very, very worried about the possible outbreak of hostilities. The Quebec-Republican Union border was one of the tightest in the world, and was considered the start of the "Papist Curtain," as the Union called it. In the 1940s, the Tripartite Empire invested heavily in fortifying the border with anti-airship defenses and land mines. The Bonapartist King, Pierre I, who had taken power in 1940 upon the death of his mother (Caesar Napoleon IV's daughter) Queen Marie I, was absolutely terrified of Joseph Steele, and in 1950, he installed a bunker beneath the palace in Quebec City. Pierre was married to a Portuguese noblewoman and they had six children, all girls, with the oldest, the 31 year-old Princess Marie, being heiress to the throne.

Quebec was legally an independent nation, but in practice it was nothing more than a Bonaparte-run Imperial satellite. Quebec was largely in charge of Imperial Canadian Territories, though, so it was a key nation to keeping the mammoth-sized Tripartite Empire functioning smoothly. The military draft had never stopped in Quebec, and the nation had entire books of instructions on what to do in case of Union invasion.

http://www.ilduce.net/personaggi/debono.jpg
King Pierre I meets with the visiting Italian Emperor Massimiliano III in Quebec City (1945)

In 1953, Quebec signed an treaty making it an unofficial member of the Columbian Alliance. While it continued to use Imperial currency and manage its own affairs, it agreed to come to the aid of the Southron nations if they were attacked, and especially vice-versa. Quebec was thankful to have good allies in North America instead of relying on support coming all the way from Europe.

Napoleon VI (born 1915) Caesar of the Tripartite Empire, Emperor of the United Empire of Brazil and Rio de la Plata, Lord of Mann, Mediator of the Helvetic Confederation, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and Protector of the Free City of Lisbon.
Napoleona (born 1935) Princess Imperial of the Tripartite Empire, Princess Imperial of the United Empire of Brazil and Rio de la Plata, Princess of Bohemia, Duchess of Reichstadt, Princess of Bombay
Charles I (Karl I) (born 1887) Emperor/Kaiser of the Confederation of the Rhine
Massimiliano III (born 1879 died 1950) King of Italy, Count of Vienna
Massimiliano IV (born 1905) Emperor of Italy, Count of Vienna, King of Italy, King of the Two Sicilies
Carlo I (born 1847 died 1939) Last King of the Two Sicilies
Charles Louis II (born 1865) King of Andorra
Dominic IV (born 1890) King of Ireland
Marie I (born 1858 died 1940) Queen of Quebec
Pierre I (born 1888) King of Quebec
Louise Napoleona I (born 1894) Queen of Holland
Adriana I (born 1849 died 1949) Princess of Lucca and Piombino
Antonio I (born 1874 died 1950) Prince of Lucca and Piombino
Antonio II (born 1907) Prince of Lucca and Piombino

Napoleon53

September 28th, 2013, 04:49 PM

Wow, no comments?

Well, anyway, here's something you'll see sometime in the next couple chapters:

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3821/9297807849_cd8eb28fd1_o.png

:D

Zoidberg12

September 28th, 2013, 05:59 PM

I like how France has a female leader in line for the throne. :cool: Should lead to some interesting developments later on.

Looks like the Dutch have there own Vietnam on their hands. They may have to go and give Southern China independence eventually, and whether leads to that probably won't be petty.

I like how Italy is unified-ish (:p). I also liked the victory tower. I was kinda wondering whether an Eiffel Tower analog would come to be, and looks like it did.

An on unrelated note, since Erich asked about Joe Steele having kids, will Chuck Oswald be married and have kids?

Napoleon53

September 28th, 2013, 06:05 PM

I like how France has a female leader in line for the throne. :cool: Should lead to some interesting developments later on.

Looks like the Dutch have there own Vietnam on their hands. They may have to go and give Southern China independence eventually, and whether leads to that probably won't be petty.

An on unrelated note, since Erich asked about Joe Steele having kids, will Chuck Oswald be married and have kids?

Yup, I had considered having a female Prussian leader, but decided to go with the Bonapartes. :) The odds are against having the heir be a male for so many generations.

It's going to get way worse in China, too. It will be really hard for the Dutch to manage it if world war breaks out.

Yes, Oswald will indeed be married. Steele still might, and pull a Larry King and have a kid at a ridiculous age. :p

SargentHawk

September 29th, 2013, 12:26 AM

just read through the timeline, and I must say... I love it so far. The way you incorporated Stalin was terrific.

Was Goodyear's death truly an accident? or did his son creatively just maybe give him a little nudge. Which is the impression I got from it.

Napoleon53

September 29th, 2013, 12:43 AM

just read through the timeline, and I must say... I love it so far. The way you incorporated Stalin was terrific.

Was Goodyear's death truly an accident? or did his son creatively just maybe give him a little nudge. Which is the impression I got from it.

Thanks a lot, Sarge! :D Great to have you reading.

Goodyear's death was not an accident. Goodyear Junior just got sick of pops not dying (so Junior could take over the family business) so he decided to airship-keelhaul him at 1500 feet. :p

SargentHawk

September 29th, 2013, 12:49 AM

Thanks a lot, Sarge! :D Great to have you reading.

Goodyear's death was not an accident. Goodyear Junior just got sick of pops not dying (so Junior could take over the family business) so he decided to airship-keelhaul him at 1500 feet. :p

No problem at all, I'm a big fan of your timelines on here, I've been meaning to get around to reading this for a while, but today I set aside everything to finally do it.

thanks for clearing it up, I had a suspicion, like father like son. :p

Zoidberg12

September 29th, 2013, 12:49 AM

You know, when I first read the chapter were Goodyear dies, it didn't occur to me that Goodyear II killed his father. Did you hint at it in the chapter itself? It been a while since I read it.

I must say, the pattern of Union figures killing their families is erie, yet brilliant. It makes the Union figures even more evil, and it still does it without turning them into bland cartoon villains. Kudos. :cool:

Oh, and I must say, I really feel sorry for the guy who had to clean up Goodyear's guts. :p

Napoleon53

September 29th, 2013, 12:58 AM

You know, when I first read the chapter were Goodyear dies, it didn't occur to me that Goodyear II killed his father. Did you hint at it in the chapter itself? It been a while since I read it.

Oh, and I must say, I really feel sorry for the guy who had to clean up Goodyear's guts. :p

Yup! I made it rather funny, too, with Goodyear Jr. himself dropping every hint in the book that he just threw pops right over the edge. :D He said he "unfortunately can't talk to the police or authorities because I am in a deep state of mourning." :p

Indeed. Goodyear basically lived/died the song "Gory, Gory What a Helluva Way to Die. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWgsdexkv18)" :p

Napoleon53

September 29th, 2013, 07:20 AM

Okay, this is fun stuff right here! :D This chapter covers the rise of the New Southron Youth Craze and the growing propaganda industry in the Union. The next part (Part II) will cover sports (like car racing). The third and final part will cover movies, comic books, and tv shows. :D Enjoy!

THE GOLDEN AGE OF ENTERTAINMENT: PART I
http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/attachment.php?attachmentid=214140&d=1380031675
"Hello, my fellow Americans!" An American family watches "The All-American Saturday Night Family Hour" on their Picture Box

In the late 1920s, engineers in several countries began experimenting with the idea of "theater screens in the home." By the early 1940s, some very rich families were buying "picture boxes." By the late 1940s, "PBs" were spreading to the middle classes, and it became a popular hobby with families across the globe. The first TV shows were nothing more than a few station employees cracking some jokes and doing other goofy acts, like juggling and tap-dancing. But in 1949, a Virginian station manager became popular enough to get his own show. The Buddy Bannerman Show came on every Friday night at 8. By 1951, he had a massive studio, famous guests, and a full orchestra. Big companies like Cokie Cola advertized on the show, and before long Buddy Bannerman was one of the most widely-recognized faces in all of Columbia, broadcast to millions of homes across the continent.

http://www.buzzle.com/images/fashion/1950s-clothing/pin-striped-suit.jpg
Still photo of Buddy Bannerman dressed in Union-style attire for his famous "Republican Union Talkie Box Listener" skit on his PB show, poking fun at Yankee propaganda

From that point on, Buddy Bannerman began controlling popular culture in Columbia. If entertainers made it on his show, they'd be popular. If he pulled the plug on them, their dreams were pretty much over. Out of all the entertainers who made it big on his show, none were more popular than one music group: Johnny Cashew and the Rebs.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2845/9312610026_fa20865287_o.png

The history of the most influential pop culture phenomenon since The Riverboaters band in the Roaring 'Teens began in the back-alleys of St. Augustine, in the Florida region of the Georgia Republic. Half-Hispanic Jonathan Spencer was a broke 17 year-old orphan participating in petty crime and pickpocketing, when one day he found a busted guitar in a trashcan. He took it back to the tenement he lived in and began trying to fix it up in his spare time. Soon, he learned he had a knack for the instrument, and he started playing for five bucks a night in saloons, bars, and nightclubs in St. Augustine. People loved him. His style was totally new, with a heavy twanging guitar and "backwoods yellin'" style singing. He started being able to afford nicer clothes, and then a nicer guitar. He started wearing his hair like the Cubans did, something which was considered very odd and unusual, and made him the target of several "Greaser" jokes, a derogatory term for Hispanics. He embraced the name, and so did the subculture he was about to create.

Then, he joined up with four other musicians: guitarist Joe Gunderson, pianist Larry Russo, saxophonist Mikey Lewis, banjo-player Chuck Carry, and drummer Mac "Hillbilly" Hooter. The team was formed, and Spencer, Gunderson, Lewis, Carry, and Hooter were about to take the world by storm. The one obstacle in Spencer's mind, though, was that he hated his name. So, following a joke from Lewis about how much Spencer loved eating nuts, Jonathan Spencer became Johnny Cashew, "which had a nice, Southron, down-home sound." Johnny Cashew and the Rebs were born.

The popular culture establishment hated the band. They liked spats, fedoras, top hats, and striped suits, and most of all much less "rambunctious" music. Nevertheless, Buddy Bannerman booked them for Friday, September 15th, 1951. Despite the fact that Russo and Carry were not able to attend due to getting involved in a minor traffic accident, the appearance was a huge success. That night, the entertainment world changed forever.

Footage of the original Rebs appearance on the Buddy Bannerman Show, Friday, September 15th, 1951: http://youtu.be/K8uZutr1avs?t=21s

The reaction from parents was immediate. Despite the fact that many of they themselves had been involved with the riverboater/honky tonk culture in their youth, they were trying to crush the new youth movement before it took off. But it was too late. "Cubabilly" music, as it was starting to be called, was there to stay. Half a year later, the first movie about Cubabilly street gangs in St. Augustine was out. "The Reckless Ones" was a smash hit motion picture starring Marlin Brander as a tough-as-nails ex-boxer, Johnny Valentine, trying to win the love of roadside waitress Patricia (played by Jeanette Vega) while keeping his position as head of the ultra-violent Skull Boys motorcycle gang. It was the number one movie in the South for two straight months.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T6GuV1SbLfw/TZO_5rsgXhI/AAAAAAAABBA/9t86bPTDb5s/s640/brando2.jpg
Brander and Vega in a scene from The Reckless Ones (1952)

The next music hit for Cashew and the Rebs was "Tequila (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H6amDbAwlY)," which incited so much anger from parents that they held public burnings of the album. The Rebs continued to sell records and top the talkie box charts in the South, though, and then it spread across the waters to Gran Colombia and north to Quebec.

But the group soon found competition. Sprouting up all over non-Union areas of North America were copy-cat acts, like the anti-Churchill English immigrants who formed The Ferrymen in Quebec City. By late 1952, there were over 58 successful Cubabilly bands and solo artists, only one of which was from Cuba (Jose Vargas), and they were driving traditional honky tonk culture into extinction. Everywhere, young people were "going Cuban." Motorcycles became all the rage, and teen violence and gang participation sky-rocketed. Even the Negro population was getting into the subculture, and Georgia-born "Brother John" was the most popular, with hits like "I'm a Soul Man."

The new nightly PB news hours showed "wild teenage violence in the streets." "St. Augustine is on the verge of collapsing into anarchy!" lamented one broadcaster. "These wild greasing so-called Cubabillies are mowing each other in drive-by shootings. Motorcycle accidents on every corner. Illegal street racing! Reckless endangerment of our fair, law-abiding citizens! These hoodlums must be stopped!"

214442
Photo of a female Cubabilly sporting a necklace with Johnny Cashew's portrait in St. Augustine, Georgia (1953)

http://midstateantiquestockcarclub.com/sitebuilder/images/JohnGradyPhoto_s-747x562.jpg
Stock car races like this one in Newport News, Virginia Republic, were dominated by greaser racing teams in the 1950s. At its height of popularity, racing was as popular as baseball itself.

As the South was trying to get its youth under control, the Republican Union didn't have any youth that needed controlling. They had carefully blocked out the subculture's influence and cracked down hard on youth gangs. The fashion didn't change; men still wore spats, top hats, parted their hair down the middle with bacon grease, and women still wore dresses down to their lower calves. The Union PB shows were entirely different from the Southern ones. Mild-mannered hosts showed "harmless" entertainment and comedy and singing acts, and every Sunday all the shows that came on were religious in nature. Every Saturday night at 6, starting in 1951, Joseph Steele himself would appear for the "All-American Saturday Night Family Hour." He would give "fireside chats" to rally the nation and address important issues from the comfort of his rocking chair beside his fireplace. He was always in uniform.

"Hello, my citizens! My fellow Americans, I have some important issues I'd like to discuss with you, if you have the time. I'd like to talk about work. You see, without hard work, a man just has, well, a dadgum empty place inside. We need to work harder, all of us! We need to be productive if we are going to fulfill our Manifest Destiny. Of course, there are those among us who seek to deter you from working. These snake-oil salesmen, these anarchists, promise better wages and better treatment... if you go on strike. *laughs* Well, I don't know about you, but if there's one thing I can't stand it's a striker. I hate those cretins. The recent events at the auto factory in Boston are absolutely unacceptable. The fifty assembly line employees who dropped their tools of Christian labor have proven themselves some sort of retarded tools to be used by anarchists and communists. Have no fear, they shall learn from their... mistakes... at our excellent reeducation facilities in the Ohio Country, where they shall be taught respect for authority, camaraderie, and a Christian work ethic by our wonderful, kind camp counselors. So, before we go to a commercial break, I'd like to tell you all to keep working hard! Work faster! Better! Stronger! Double your production! That's the American spirit! Stay healthy, so you can keep your country healthy with your manual labor. And remember, smoke Soaring Eagle Smokes! For a smoke that gives you a good taste, without irritating your throat! Recommended by 90% of doctors and dentists. Remember, ask for Soaring Eagle Smokes! God bless you, one and all! And God Bless America!"

The above was a typical introduction of a Family Hour show. Steele would rant about whatever subject he wanted while still trying to come across as a lovable grandfather. Sometimes he would even be toasting smores as the camera focused in on him at the start of the show. There would be numerous guests that would appear after him, such as Joey Gobells, Second Chief Consul Roosevelt, generals, admirals, and Union celebrities like Max Cross, Richard Nixon, and Mary-Jane Mundy. The last ten minutes of the show were for CYB members only, and the CYB Headmaster-Marshal would show them a "Scouting Tip of the Week," such as how to start a fire, how to make a tent from branches, how to use a sundial, and how to sharpen a bayonet. It was a successful show, and almost every member of the Betters of Society tuned in... if they knew what was good for their health. It was the best thing to ever happen to the propaganda department in Philadelphia; at last, they could reach their citizens right in their houses every week for a solid brain-washing.

I don't know why, but in that last update, Steele kind of came off as an evil Reagan to me for some reason.

Zoidberg12

September 29th, 2013, 11:35 PM

The alternate greaser subculture was the most interesting part of the update IMO. :cool: I love the names of the alternate bands, and all the butterflies were just interesting in general. Also as a Cuban-American, I loved the Cuban influence in the new Southron music. Speaking of which what exactly is Cuba like in this world?

Joe Steele sitting on his chair in front of a fireplace acting all kindly and everything instantly reminded me of Mom from Futurama :p (Anyone whos a fan will know what I'm talking about).

I'll fix the errors on the Napo III and IV info-boxes soon, but heres another one for the mean time. I made one for Leroy Walker, so why not his Napoleonic counterpart, Casmir Polanski? The pic I used was off Geert Adriaans Boomgaard, one of the last surviving veteran of the Napoleonic Wars IOTL.

Edit: Just fixed both Napo III and IV. :D

Napoleon53

September 30th, 2013, 12:17 AM

I don't know why, but in that last update, Steele kind of came off as an evil Reagan to me for some reason.

"Win one for the Dictator!" :p:D

The alternate greaser subculture was the most interesting part of the update IMO. :cool: I love the names of the alternate bands, and all the butterflies were just interesting in general. Also as a Cuban-American, I loved the Cuban influence in the new Southron music. Speaking of which what exactly is Cuba like in this world?

I'll fix the errors on the Napo III and IV info-boxes soon, but heres another one for the mean time. I made one for Leroy Walker, so why not his Napoleonic counterpart, Casmir Polanski? The pic I used was off Geert Adriaans Boomgaard, one of the last surviving veteran of the Napoleonic Wars IOTL.

Edit: Just fixed both Napo III and IV. :D

Cuba is probably a lot like OTL Cuba (only much more prosperous), but with a fairly large white minority and with a reputation as a great vacation area. By now it's likely fairly similar to Cuban population-heavy Florida towns from OTL. There will be probably be more on it in the future.

The infobox looks great! :D Adriaans Boomgaard was a neat guy; I read about him not long ago.

Napoleon53

September 30th, 2013, 07:43 AM

Tricky Dick himself finally stars in a chapter! :D This chapter was designed to be sort of darkly humorous-- a bit of levity in a pretty scary TL. Needless to say, however over-the-top, I wouldn't put anything mentioned in this chapter past the Union, realism-wise. If you think anything in this chapter would be too "morally reprehensible" for Americans to consider it part of their "golden age of entertainment," you must have missed the part where they freely elected murdering psychos to the highest offices in the land. :p:D And that was decades ago. They've been left alone to wallow in their own evilness for so long that nothing can be put past them now. Imagine what would happen if you took Nazi Germany and let them stay Nazi for 150 years... That should tell you what the Union is capable of and how warped their minds are.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF ENTERTAINMENT: PART II
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3821/9297807849_cd56bde39c.jpg

Sports also were a part of the Golden Age of Entertainment. Baseball continued in popularity as always, but other sports were coming in. The foremost was the crazy world of auto racing. First started along the western Union-Virginia border, it had taken off in the 1940s, with the first official track being built in Louisville, Virginia, in 1948. It was a bloody sport, and it wasn't uncommon to see drivers die in balls of flaming wreckage. Rivals were known to deliberately sabotage and target each other. Upon the arrival of the Cubabilly culture, racing became the "it thing" to do to show off and make money... and settle rivalries.

In Europe, auto racing was also growing in popularity, but as with most sports, the Europeans insisted on being the most gentlemanly about the rules. If drivers tried multiple times to deliberately wreck other drivers, they could be banned for life. Many of the drivers were wealthy barons and noblemen, as they could afford the upkeep on the luxurious cars they were driving (unlike the jalopies driven in North America). In 1950, the Principality of Lucca and Piombino asked for permission to start an official European racing league. He approved in short order and the Pan-Imperial Prix was born. Despite the fact that it had been intended only for Imperial racers, Prussians, Danes, Swedes, and others soon asked for permission to participate. On August 12th, the first Pan-Imperial Prix was begun. Race autos lined up by the dozens for a 730-mile race for a grand prize worth 5 million dollars (paid for by the Principality). The race was scheduled to start in Piombino, and then pass through Livorno, Genoa, Turin, into Geneva, and then over to Dijon before ending in Paris.

The only non-European to participate was young Union millionaire real estate and sports mogul (and part-time daredevil and auto enthusiast) Richard "Tricky Dick" Nixon. Racing in a luxurious car decked out in Union symbols and the number 35, he made quite an entrance, and within the first ten minutes of the opening ceremony every single driver present hated his obnoxious guts.

Before the race had begun, however, Nixon's mechanics had secretly broke into the garage and fiddled with the engine of Pierre DuPont, the most well-known French racer at the event. In the final stretch of the race, Nixon and DuPont were out ahead of the rest of the pack, with just ten miles to go till they reached the finish line in Paris. Turning on a special magnetic device in his car, suddenly DuPont's car burst into flames on the bottom of the chasis, sending the car careening into a fence. Ambulances on the scene pulled a severely wounded DuPont out of the wreckage as Tricky Dick completed the final leg of the race and won the first ever Pan-Imperial Prix. DuPont died at the hospital ten hours later.

http://i31.servimg.com/u/f31/13/41/92/80/clemde10.jpg
DuPont (number 3) goes swerving off the road and into a fence thanks to Nixon (below, number 35)

Despite the fact that he was under investigation for cheating, Nixon hosted a huge party in Paris and droves of Union officials and celebrities were flown in to join the celebration. Over the next two days, an investigation showed that the evidence did indeed point to foul play, and the magnetic device was quickly discovered in his car. Nixon was fuming at a press conference, where he famously and adamantly declared, "I am not a cheater!"

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/nixon-laughing-thumb.jpg

As Paris Police were about to come and arrest him on suspicion of manslaughter or murder, he rushed to the Union embassy in Paris, where he was held up for ten weeks before finally being smuggled back to America on a government airship, saying upon arrival "You won't have old Tricky Dick to kick around anymore, Europe." When asked about the DuPont affair by the Union press, he said, "I'm not going to say what my people may or may not have done. But make no mistake, we Americans are the modern Hebrews, the Chosen People. Those serving Pope and Caesar are the modern goyim. We can do whatever we jolly well like to them because they are rejecting God. And if I was cheating, I wasn't doing it for money. I'm rich already. I did it for the thrill of the sport." That line caused outrage in Europe, and the Principality of Lucca and Piombino banned Union racers forever. Nixon went out and bought his own racing league in the Union (which he named the Union Cup) and raced in that one (he almost always won) driving the number 3 Watergate Engines car. Deaths abounded, and it was wildly popular in the Union. In 1951, his racing league became the first ever to be shown on picture boxes. Citizens spent every Saturday watching the Union Cup with an almost religious devotion.

Nixon wasn't satisfied with the thrills from auto racing, though. In 1950, at his estate in Iowai, he hosted "dogfighting:" several pilots trying to down each other's very small, cheaply built planes with special weak bullets designed to only do very much damage to the primary target, the tail-fin. In 1953, the Union broadcasted the "3rd Annual Dogfighting World Cup," a 4-week event billed as having over 100 aces participating. Oddly, there was no lack of daredevil "volunteers" participating in what was, essentially, a real war. Rumors swirled about them actually being Union Aeroforce pilots being forced to compete to give them much-needed combat training.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8397/8692800421_6358c17088.jpg

It was bloody. Nixon himself, along with camera crews and hosts from all the major channels, stationed themselves in a giant armored airship in the countryside just outside of the Nixon Estate. From there, Nixon would "referee" the event. The folks at home watched the inglorious air-carnage unfold live before their eyes. The ratings were through the roof. The pilots were bailing out left and right with parachutes as their one-man planes tumbled to earth in a spiral of smoke and death.

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/PT-AK394A_NIXON_G_20081205201727.jpg
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another night of exciting and thrilling competition. The Knights of the Skies are going at it for the fifth consecutive day now."

http://drx.typepad.com/psychotherapyblog/images/2008/02/06/richard_nixon_1960.jpg
"And Team Pennsylvania circles around for the first kill of day 12! The New York team captain deploys his parachute. Chalk up another one for Team Pennsylvania!"

Miraculously, there was not a single death until the sixth day, when a Michiganian pilot failed to bail out of his fiery plane in time and died upon impact. From that point to the end of the competition, there were nine more deaths, three from malfunctioning parachutes. Pennsylvania ended up taking home the trophy for that year. Team New Jersey was considered the biggest loser, having had four of their five pilots die.

Behind the scenes, the whole event was just a Nixon shell shielding government operations. The Union loved the idea of breeding their citizens into blood-lusting war-mongers accustomed to death and battle without them even seeing it coming. After all, the "competition" was just simple military war games, with the bills being footed by Nixon (who wanted publicity for the sake of vanity). The pilots all knew how to crash, jump, shoot, and everything else, so casualties were kept to a minimum. If people tuned in for war games, that was fine with the government. It was free fascist brainwashing. The reaction from the rest of the world was immediate and furious: they demanded the event stop. The President of Virginia declared, "This is the day that we shall all look back on as the day when the Yankees finally snapped. When they finally lost all touch with reality and morality."

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3120/2869350448_a9563d771e.jpg

Instead of ending it, Joe Steele gave the event his official approval.

Clandango

September 30th, 2013, 10:10 AM

And yet Nixon does not sell used cars.

Jedi_Master_Kirito

September 30th, 2013, 02:31 PM

So now the RU has its own equivalents of the Hunger Games? Interesting. And those pictures of Nixon... priceless. xD

Napoleon53

September 30th, 2013, 03:28 PM

And yet Nixon does not sell used cars.

Nah, not evil enough. And when a used care salesman isn't evil enough, you know you're talking about a character akin to Satan. :p

So now the RU has its own equivalents of the Hunger Games? Interesting.

And those pictures of Nixon... priceless. xD

Sort of/basically, yeah. :D

Gotta give Zoidberg credit for the Nixon photos. He posted them in the "Things that look AH" thread back in February, and I've had this chapter planned so long that I saved them back then. :D

Zoidberg12

September 30th, 2013, 07:21 PM

These sports truly show how messed up the majority of the Union population has become. :eek: Hard to believe Nixon killed a guy with NO remorse whatsoever, and the same goes for the dogfights. Give me car salesman Nixon any day. :eek::p I imagine the non morally corrupt Unionites are too scared to come out, lest the ORRA gets on their heels.

Also, your welcome for finding those Nixon pics. So, how many more updates until all hell breaks lose?

Napoleon53

September 30th, 2013, 08:10 PM

Hard to believe Nixon killed a guy with NO remorse whatsoever, and the same goes for the dogfights. Give me car salesman Nixon any day. :eek::p

I imagine the non morally corrupt Unionites are too scared to come out, lest the ORRA gets on their heels.

So, how many more updates until all hell breaks lose?

That's what happens when people are raised in the Union. It's sort of an objectivism-meets-fascism nation, where everyone puts themselves ahead of others, and then justify themselves using state and cult doctrine and maintain outward religiosity. Almost like some sort of Fascist Satanism. :eek:

Pretty much, yeah. It'd be like not groveling before Big Brother in 1984. They know where you live, they know what you think, and they know what you say. Best to just roll with it to make sure you don't get sent to the reeducation camps. "Silence is Golden. Know your Place! Shut your Face!" :p

There should be two or three more updates before the war. Golden Age Entertainment Part III (movies, TV shows, comics, etc), a chapter about Northern Europe and Russia, and then the war. :D I also have a surprise secret chapter that will shock all of you.

Have you made any more progress with the Africa/Middle East guest chapters? If not, you could PM me to brainstorm for ideas, since you said you had writer's block. I'll need to know more about Arabia and Egypt before I can tell how the war breaks out. :cool:

sodan

September 30th, 2013, 08:22 PM

For me, the war will be short the empire has no chance agaisnt R.U,england and Prussia.

ed_montague

September 30th, 2013, 08:48 PM

My God--the R.U. are actually turning into the Draka. :eek:

RedinaRedState

September 30th, 2013, 11:43 PM

We can do whatever we jolly well like to them...
That's Nixon, alright. Little details like that never cease to amaze me. Have you thought about having this made into a novel or even a TV miniseries? I suggest the simplified title: "Madness".

Napoleon53

October 1st, 2013, 01:48 AM

For me, the war will be short the empire has no chance agaisnt R.U,england and Prussia.

Don't forget about the Southrons, though; the Union can't really help quickly in Europe like OTL WWs thanks to the Columbian Alliance. If Caesar can crash through the borders quickly enough, it'll at least be a bloody, bloody, stalemate for a long time.

My God--the R.U. are actually turning into the Draka. :eek:

Oh, and they're going to get worse. And worse. And worse. :eek:

That's Nixon, alright. Little details like that never cease to amaze me. Have you thought about having this made into a novel or even a TV miniseries? I suggest the simplified title: "Madness".

I am indeed planning a series of short stories set in the "Madnessverse." :D And maybe when I'm an old experienced guy in 10 years (I'll be... a wizened 28 year-old then :p) NBC or SyFy will pick up the pilot. :D

Napoleon53

October 1st, 2013, 04:52 AM

Well, guys, it's my 18th Birthday (Oct. 1st)! Ol' Napo is finally an adult. I'll be seeing you all around the mysteriously vague office we adults all work and drink coffee at (that's how it works right? :p).

Since I have all of today off unconditionally, I may put up two or three chapters while I'm stuffing my face with Oreo ice cream cake. :D I may also upload a couple posters if I can.

Avi Rimor

October 1st, 2013, 04:58 AM

Well, guys, it's my 18th Birthday (Oct. 1st)! Ol' Napo is finally an adult. I'll be seeing you all around the mysteriously vague office we adults all work and drink coffee at (that's how it works right? :p).

Since I have all of today off unconditionally, I may put up two or three chapters while I'm stuffing my face with Oreo ice cream cake. :D I may also upload a couple posters if I can.

Happy birthday!

Also great TL. :D

SargentHawk

October 1st, 2013, 04:58 AM

Well, guys, it's my 18th Birthday (Oct. 1st)! Ol' Napo is finally an adult. I'll be seeing you all around the mysteriously vague office we adults all work and drink coffee at (that's how it works right? :p).

Since I have all of today off unconditionally, I may put up two or three chapters while I'm stuffing my face with Oreo ice cream cake. :D I may also upload a couple posters if I can.

let me be one of the first to wish you a happy 18th.

Napoleon53

October 1st, 2013, 05:11 AM

Happy birthday!

Also great TL. :D

Thanks and thanks! :D

let me be one of the first to wish you a happy 18th.

Danke, Sarge!

Wow, your post was your 333rd.

That's literally the umpteenth time tonight I've gotten multiples of 3 in random places. Tonight's episode of Ancient Aliens was all about number 3. :eek::p

SargentHawk

October 1st, 2013, 05:14 AM

Thanks and thanks! :D

Danke, Sarge!

Wow, your post was your 333rd.

That's literally the umpteenth time tonight I've gotten multiples of 3 in random places. Tonight's episode of Ancient Aliens was all about number 3. :eek::p

......................:cool:......................

Napoleon53

October 1st, 2013, 05:53 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyRASGouMDI

A new video, guys! :D It features (pretty much) all the Union propaganda posters created so far, set to creepy music. And it has an opening monologue by a pants-wettingly terrifying Chuckie Oswald. :D:eek: I even did a neat effect where you see anti-Slav poster shrivel and decay off a wall.

Clandango

October 1st, 2013, 06:15 AM

We must see how they celebrate birthdays in the Empire and Republican Union.

Napoleon53

October 1st, 2013, 07:02 AM

We must see how they celebrate birthdays in the Empire and Republican Union.

Union:

"Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuu! Yay! Son, you're 18 years old now! And you know what that means!"

"Gee whiz! What? A car?!"

"Nope, even better!"

"What could be better than that?!"

"Official membership in the Manifest Destiny Party!"

"OH WOW NO WAY GET OUT OF HERE REALLY I'M NOT WORTHY!"

:p:D

TheBerlinguer

October 1st, 2013, 09:28 AM

Well, guys, it's my 18th Birthday (Oct. 1st)! Ol' Napo is finally an adult. I'll be seeing you all around the mysteriously vague office we adults all work and drink coffee at (that's how it works right? :p).

Since I have all of today off unconditionally, I may put up two or three chapters while I'm stuffing my face with Oreo ice cream cake. :D I may also upload a couple posters if I can.

Happy birthday to such a young and prolific writer! But beware: never put too much trust in the effects of a sugar rush! :p

Superman

October 1st, 2013, 10:23 AM

Happy birthday! And I look forward to reading what you come up with today.

Zoidberg12

October 1st, 2013, 11:26 AM

Happy 18th birthday Napoleon! :D Hope you have a great day! Also can't wait to see what you'll be posting later today. :cool:

Rammer

October 1st, 2013, 11:59 AM

Pretty interesting TL.
But, Its really hard to imagine france holding an empire in india for so long without a major rebellion kicking them out.
Also whats japan doing in this world?Still in 1600s?

Avskygod0

October 1st, 2013, 05:04 PM

Sooner or later every European, African, Asian and Oceanian country will have this part in constitution:

Every American country will be dismantled and turned into colonies until they fight for independence, then repeat after 20 years

Napoleon53

October 1st, 2013, 05:47 PM

Happy birthday to such a young and prolific writer! But beware: never put too much trust in the effects of a sugar rush! :p

Danke, Berlin! And it's too late, the sugar party has already begun. :p:D

Happy birthday! And I look forward to reading what you come up with today.

Happy 18th birthday Napoleon! :D Hope you have a great day! Also can't wait to see what you'll be posting later today. :cool:

Thanks, guys! I'm working on the new stuff right now! :D

Pretty interesting TL.
But, Its really hard to imagine france holding an empire in india for so long without a major rebellion kicking them out.
Also whats japan doing in this world?Still in 1600s?

Thanks! Oh, don't worry, there have been Indian rebellions. I'm just saving talking about them until we get to India's role in the upcoming world war. :D

Sooner or later every European, African, Asian and Oceanian country will have this part in constitution:

Pretty much. :p If the Union goes down anytime from here to the end of time, there is going to be so many foreign troops garrisoned it'll make your head spin. :D

AXlec

October 1st, 2013, 10:16 PM

Happy birthday, Napoleon53, and--at least to me-- Nixon is scarier than Joe Steele; SteeleéStalin was a lunatic; Nixon is just EVIL! :eek::eek::eek:

ed_montague

October 1st, 2013, 10:57 PM

Union:

"Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuu! Yay! Son, you're 18 years old now! And you know what that means!"

Happy birthday, Napoleon53, and--at least to me-- Nixon is scarier than Joe Steele; SteeleéStalin was a lunatic; Nixon is just EVIL! :eek::eek::eek:

Thanks! It's been awesome so far.

I'm not quite sure what Nixon will end up doing. I've considered having him be a replacement for Joey Goebbels. Since Nixon flat-out doesn't mind murdering people, he'd do well managing the Ohio Country Reeducation Camps. :eek:

If the Union goes down anytime from here to the end of time, there is going to be so many foreign troops garrisoned it'll make your head spin.

Is it wrong that I hope that by the end of this timeline that the RU gets pwned?

Napoleon53

October 2nd, 2013, 01:31 AM

Is it wrong that I hope that by the end of this timeline that the RU gets pwned?

Not at all. I'd be worried about you if you didn't. ;):D

Zoidberg12

October 2nd, 2013, 03:00 AM

Not at all. I'd be worried about you if you didn't. ;):D

Yah, I think pretty much everybody here wants to see the Republican Union get their just deserts. I know I sure as hell do. :D

Napoleon53

October 2nd, 2013, 05:47 AM

As promised, here's part III (really looooonnnggg), covering film and comics! It's about the length of two normal chapters. :D I'll try to come up with illustrations for Captain Columbia and Lady Virginia sometime soon, but you can safely assume they look quite a lot like Cap'n America and Wonder Woman (I'd guess Lady Virginia is exactly like 1940s Wonder Woman, with a golden V on her chest instead of the eagle).

And I dare you to spot all the cultural references and parodies in this chapter. I did a bunch of research and I'm already fairly knowledgeable about old-timey films. I reference everything from things like The Sign of the Cross (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sign_of_the_Cross_%28film%29), to Singing In The Rain, to Tennessee Ernie Ford (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Ernie_Ford), Marilyn Monroe, The Great Dictator and even freaking Indiana Jones. But seriously, there's a Prussian Singing In The Rain. :D

THE GOLDEN AGE OF ENTERTAINMENT: PART III
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UNION CINEMA:
By the 1940s, facist English immigrant Alfred Cromwell Hitchcock, veteran of the Second English Civil War, had established himself as the best filmmaker in the Republican Union. His films, created under his Action Pictures label, had achieved widespread popularity within the Union sphere of influence. Most of them were horror and crime stories, whipping up fear and terror of Slavs, Irish, and Inferiors. He launched the career of megastar Maxwell Cross in 1939 with the smash hit thriller 13 Angry Irish Men, based on the "true story" of 13 Catholic anarchists plotting to assassinate Custer in 1918. It was so popular, that in 1941 Hitchcock and Cross (and Action Pictures) released the first ever sequel to a movie: 13 Angry Irish Men: Justice is Served, a drama centering around the trials of the five assassination plotters who survived the manhunt in the first movie. Then, in 1943, Cross starred in another Hitchcock classic, For Whom the Bugle Calls, about Union soldiers serving in South-West Asia during the establishment of the Greater American-Pacific Co-Prosperity Sphere. The film received rave reviews, with huge amounts of praise for Cross's portrayal of Ben Saunderson, a war-worn, trigger-happy, patriot trying to survive the jungles of the fictional Blood Island, and for up-and-coming German-born actor Teddy Wilhelm's performance as Saunderson's sidekick Sammy Brant. It was the most violent movie ever made up to that point, even beating out another 1940s hit, the Southron classic Johnny Bathorn and the Scottish Kid (1942).

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Max Cross's character Jimmy Wells in a still from 13 Angry Irish Men (1939)

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Still from For Whom the Bugle Calls (1943)

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Still of Teddy Wilhelm's For Whom the Bugle Calls character Sammy Brant about to open fire uoon "a despicable gaggle of French fops and Mahommetens." This scene had Cross deliver one of his most famous lines: "Shoot 'em again, Sam!"

Audiences liked Cross as an adventurer so much that Hitchcock decided to make a whole series of movies just centered around that. In 1944, Action Pictures released Pennsylvania Jack: Pilgrim in an Unholy Land. The film's plot covered the fictional escapades of John "Jack" Pennyworth (played by Cross), a daring Pennsylvania-born adventurer going through Asia and the Middle East in pursuit of treasures for the real-life Union Artifact Retrieval and Archaeological Excavation Office. On his journeys he tangles with radical Muslims in Turkey, fights Chinese martial artists, and has a climatic showdown with his French rival Remmy Romain on top of a massive airship over the Hindu Kush. The movie was the most popular movie ever made up to that point, and even some Southron critics acknowledged its artistic merit.

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Maxwell Cross as Jack Pennyworth in Pennsylvania Jack: Pilgrim in an Unholy Land (1944)

In 1946, after several successful detective movies, Cross returned to the fedora and leather jacket as Jack Pennyworth in Pennsylvania Jack: Quest for the Sword of Arthur, which covered Pennyworth's European adventures searching for the legendary Excalibur. The plot had Remmy Romain (who somehow survived his fall into an airship propeller in the final fight of the first movie) finding it first and taking it with him to his somewhat hilariously-named Chateau de Murdeir, a massive medieval fortress high in the Alps. The following two hours of film almost surpassed the violence of For Whom the Bugle Calls, with Pennyworth amassing a body-count of over 200 French goons, many of whom die horrific deaths, such as being crushed by a landship, having grenades thrust down their throats, and (most oddly) getting gored by the tusks of a wall-mounted boar head. Audiences couldn't get enough, and a third film, Pennsylvania Jack: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1948), had Pennyworth going in search of Noah's Ark high in the mountains of Palestine, all the while murdering a spectacular 320 French and Muslim goon characters. It topped Bugle Calls in violence by far, and was the movie that made Cross's Pennyworth an American icon. Raiders was also notable for bringing Harry Truman, star of the 1922 hit Siege of Guadalajara, out of retirement.

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Promotional still from Pennsylvania Jack: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1948)

Cross was pure cinema gold from that point on, and nothing he made did less than spectacular at the box office. He did two Action Pictures detective movies with Harry Truman in 1949, Lake's Ten and Murder, Murder, Murder! Then, he joined forces with Truman and Teddy Wilhelm again for the 1950 "cinematic masterpiece" Double-Crossed, the "true story" of ORRA agents infiltrating a Slavic neighborhood in Shicagwa in the 1920s. They get caught and end up being held hostage for 29 days as legions of government agents surround the shanty town until the hostages finally break free and spectacularly massacre every single person in the village.

Double-Crossed was the first for up-and-comer actress Mary-Jane Mundy, the unusually voluptuous (by Union standards) actress who played Cindy Klausen, the love interest for Cross's character in the movie. She became the most popular leading lady in the Union over the next several years, and eventually began a long affair with none other than Chuckie Oswald himself, and she would even sing "Happy Birthday, Comrade-Patriot Oswald" in 1956 at the Capitol Builiding, causing a storm of controversy...

SUMMARY:

In the end, Cross, Truman, and Mundy became icons of a generation. The entertainment world of the 1940s-50s in the Union was centered around those three people. There were other popular stars, such as Gabriel Henrikson and Lewis Cartwright (who both starred in the 1949 hit One Flew Over the Finch's Nest, about inmates at an Ohio Country reeducation camp), but in the end, Cross was king. The Pennsylvania Jack series was so popular that a series of comic books was created that would continue for years.

Union film was extremely violent and graphic, unhesitatingly showing blood, gore, death, destruction, and murder. The films were absolutely stuffed with propaganda, both of the open sort and subliminal. The Taft Code, the morality code used in the Union by law, made sure cursing was not done, and (unlike Europe) did not allow nudity of any sort (dresses cut above the knee were considered "harmful to children," but low-cut dresses were usually permitted to a certain degree). The only movie that contained the word "damn" in the entire "Golden Era" of 1940s and 50s was the 1951 film Spirit of 1801, where it was overlooked because it was an actual quote by Reverend Burr himself.

FOREIGN CINEMA:
Movies in the Columbian sphere and in the rest of the world were much less heavy in propaganda (though there was still quite a bit) and focused more on stories. Romantic comedies first became popular in Virginia, and then spread to Europe. War movies were still common fare, but many of the countries hadn't been at war for so long that most of the films had to be about the Napoleonic Wars. A few movies were made in the South celebrating the Revolutionary War and their longstanding friendship with the French, but these films were not really popular, as "the Spirit of '76 had been stolen by the Union. One could not even look at the Thirteen Colonies flag without thinking of the Manifest Destiny Party Blood-Stained Banner," said Georgian film critic Arthur O'Reilly.

The first European mega-hit (popular all over the world) was the 1940 Imperial classic Napoleon Bonaparte. It was even popular in places like Prussia, where the film's depiction of the Prussians opposing Napoleon as "the noble and worthy foe" proved popular. It featured the most-ever extras in a film, with over forty thousand "soldiers" appearing in a scene reenacting the 1800 Battle of Marengo in full-scale on the site of the actual battle.

European cinema remained more artistic, in a way, than the American and Columbian variety, with less emphasis on action and more on story, techniques, and expensive sets. Imperial cinema was also much more open as to what could be depicted in a film without there being riots, window-smashing, and arson in the streets. The first curse word to ever be said in a film was in the 1932 French-language movie Gone With the Tide. The first instance of nudity (though it was simple historical accuracy) in a mainstream film was the 1939 Spanish-produced Ancient Egyptian epic The Last Pharaoh, where Cleopatra was shown partially nude in one scene. Imperial cinema became quite adept at making fairly historically accurate ancient and medieval epics, such as close to 200 movies about the Roman and Greek Empires made in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Many of them featured thousands of extras and huge sets.

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Still from the 1951 Imperial movie Bread and Circuses

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French actress Claudette Colbert as Cleopatra in The Last Pharaoh (1940)

Musicals were also very popular in Europe, especially in Prussia. Singend im Regen, "Singing in the Rain," was a world-wide mega-hit in 1946. Since it contained almost no plot whatsoever and almost totally focused on singing and dancing, it was popular all over the world even if the audiences couldn't understand German. Even the Union was pleased with it, thought they did edit out "scandalous" backup dancers.

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Still from the famous Prussian classic Singend im Regen (1946)

Musicals experienced a huge revival in the Columbian sphere in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Musicals had been out of style since the 1910s, as people thought they had been done to death, but new styles in music and the rise of the greaser culture made them popular once again. The 1948 Carolinian classic The Barber Shop Singers brought back fond memories of the 1920s for many people, and it was one of the rare Southron films allowed "virtually" unedited into the Union theaters, though it did get an advisory warning of "foreign propaganda idealizing the hell-hole of the South." Johnny Reb was a 1948 spoof of the Union's xenophobic and revanchist mentality, featuring popular folk singer "Alabama" Bernie rd as folksy "hillbilly" Billy-Joe Lee going up north to New York City to collect inheritance from a deceased Union uncle. American characters would constantly try to murder him in various slapstick ways, always resulting in hilarity, such as knife-wielding "coward bully-cad and thief" ORRA officer Ted Luther, an obvious parody of Joey Gobells, trying thirty times throughout the course of the movie to stab Lee.

The South did produce pure propaganda films, however, like the Union. The most popular and well-known was the 1953 masterpiece Jack Iron, an obvious parody of Joe Steele. The plot shows him ruling over the fictional North American country of the "Northern Republic." This film was released during the midst of rising tensions in the Cold War, and it featured an ending out-of-character scene with the cast of the film begging "for sanity to return to our Northern neighbor." The film was absolutely loathed by the Union, and reels were bought for Remembrance Day 1953 solely so they could be burned to make a political point.

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Still from Jack Iron (1953)

OTHER MEDIA:
Comic books took off when Action Pictures created Action Comics in 1949, launching the best-selling Pennsylvania Jack adventure comics. Soon, other characters were created, such as The ManBat, Lone Rider, and the Blue Phantom. In 1951, to peddle even more propaganda to America's youth, Action Comics created Colonel Union, a dashing super-powered "hero" who would fly around and pulverize Inferiors.

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"Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No! It's Colonel Union! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and seek out treacherous unpatriotic vermin no matter where they hide, Colonel Union fights for truth, justice, and the way of the Party!"
-Introductory panel to Colonel Union Issue #1

Southron comics were not very interested in "super-heroes" at first. Detective comics were far more popular, but the adventures of "Captain Columbia" and "Lady Virginia" did grow a fanbase in the mid-1950s as the Cold War heated up.

SargentHawk

October 2nd, 2013, 05:54 AM

Great Update. :D

Superman

October 2nd, 2013, 10:29 AM

I love hearing about the culture ITTL and seeing how different it is while still being terrifyingly similar to OTL. Also, evil Superman!

Clandango

October 2nd, 2013, 11:05 AM

Speaking of Superman, how are Jews being treated?

Napoleon53

October 2nd, 2013, 06:22 PM

Great Update. :D

Thanks! :D

Also, evil Superman!

I guess your username means in the Madnessverse's equivalent to AH.com, you and I would be at each other's throats:

No different then when I described them in the 1800s; there just aren't that many of them, and the ones there are tend to be fairly well-to-do and productive members of society, so the Union isn't going to antagonize them.

Zoidberg12

October 3rd, 2013, 12:18 AM

This last update had personally been my favorite of the three cultural updates. :D:cool: I loved the pop culture references to OTL, the creative alternative movies and comic books, how some of them mirrored OTL so creatively without being too obvious, the fictional characters, etc. What can I say, it was just great.

One another subject, I have a question about some alternate religions that could exist in this timeline. So far we have the AFC and TTL's Ghost Dance religion (it might be known as another "-ism" later on), but what others? Mormonism has been butterflied away, but what about the Bahá'í Faith? Since butterflies don't reach to the Middle East for a while, it may still exist. As for some alternate faiths that could exist in this world, maybe a Germanic/Norse neo-pagan revival in the Rheinbund, maybe a new Chinese religion, and a new christian based religion in Russia. Thats all I got for know. Just brainstorming I guess. :cool:

Jedi_Master_Kirito

October 3rd, 2013, 01:36 AM

Awesome update! Loved the stuff about Pennsylvania Jack. I find it amusing that the RU's supposed to be this "godly" nation, yet they love such violent cinema. The irony and hypocrisy is so funny! xD

Napoleon53

October 3rd, 2013, 01:53 AM

Thanks, you two!

@Zoid: Baha'i probably does exist still. Go ahead and PM about the other stuff; I don't want to blow to much of the future. ;)

@Kirito: Then I did my job, as that was exactly what I was intending to show. :D

This ranks right up there with the most important chapters so far. Out of the 60-some chapters, this is in the top five. Also, all but three of the illustrations are hand-made by me! :D Prepare to shocked as you read about...

THE GREAT PURGE OF 1954
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Virginian cartoon of the Great Purge of 1954. Nixon can be seen as a groveling brown-noser next to Steele's boots.

"There is only one group! Only one! With the courage and the guts to face up to the fact that this battle is racial! This has nothing to do with politics, economy, free enterprise, taxes. It is the question of is this country to going to be dominated and run by the white Christian people who built it, or is it going to be run and dominated by a bunch of beatnik scum, Communists, anarchists, aliens, and other no-good people that are trying to take it away from us, and tell us that we mustn't even talk about this, because it's 'hate.' Well I don't see anything hateful about defending your home, country, and family from aliens that are invading and taking it away from you! And that's what they're doing! We must cleanse! The Party and the Nation must be purged of infiltrators and subversives! All hail!"
- Charles Oswald, July 4th, 1954

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In the 1940s, "Charles Oswald" distinguished himself in the Union armed forces, first in the Aeroforce, and then in ORRA, where he was known as the "toughest, meanest, most brutal ORRA officer in the world." He quickly became high on the list of Joe Steele's most trusted officials and friends. In 1953, during Joe Steele's umpteenth reelection campaign, Oswald had been a fierce supporter, speaking at rallies all over the nation and whipping up support. He was a brutal, xenophobic lunatic, constantly talking about how proud he was of his "Scottish-Anglo-Saxon-Germanic" heritage. In 1949, he was placed in charge of the ORRA Propaganda Department. His brother "Robert William Oswald" was appointed Ambassador to Europe, and he went on numerous good-will tours to England, Prussia, and Scotland, strengthening ties in the midst of the Cold War's heat-up.

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Members of the pseudo-fascist, all-female Prussian Blackshirt Legion give the MDP salute to Robert Oswald upon his arrival in Berlin (1953)

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The Swedish Parliament greets Robert Oswald in Stockholm (1954)

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Chuckie Oswald works on a report about the Ohio Country Reeducation Camps (1950)

In 1954, Steele decided that war was coming... soon. Because of this, he secretly began planning to purge his officer corps, the Manifest Destiny Party, and the government itself. He invited two of his best friends, Chuckie Oswald and Richard Nixon, to a meeting in late February, and there they made their plans. On July 4th, 1954, Oswald took to the talkie box to announce the nation was about to "cleanse itself" of all the "beatniks, anarchists, and other no-good subversive people." Immediately, Consular Order 702 took effect, with the RUMP troops swarming the streets and government offices. Within minutes, Second Chief Consul Franklin Roosevelt was shot to death in his study, Manifest Destiny Party head Chief Minister Edward Martin of Pennsylvania was brutally stabbed in the MDP Headquarters in the middle of a speech, and ORRA Sky Marshal Joey Gobells was mowed down in a drive-by shooting in front of the Shicagwa City Hall, just in front of a huge statue of Abraham Aaron Lincoln (it took city hall maintenance men a month to get the blood off). All over the nation, dozens of MDP officers were getting viciously murdered.

At last, Steele finally brought the Union's history full-circle, and took to the airwaves to announce that all political parties except for the Manifest Destiny Party were banned forever. He was also now First Chief Consul for life, as would be his successors. He burned Roosevelt's body and then had Chuckie Oswald sworn in as Second Chief Consul. Nixon was fitted for his new uniform as Chief Minister of the Party. ORRA remained in shambles for several weeks as Steele tried to find a good replacement for Gobells. He finally chose none other than Oswald's old Texas-born nemesis Lyndon Johnson (luckily for Oswald, former police officer Johnson didn't remember a certain John Kennedy...). Sky Marshal Johnson took power with an iron fist, reorganizing ORRA and getting it in working order again.

Nixon personally turned in a few dozen of his own friends to RUMP and ORRA troops, and built up a reputation among other Union officials as the biggest bootlicker in Steele's officer staff. He pulled levers to get his buddy Leslie King, Jr., the same man who played that fateful game of baseball with young Kennedy in the 1920s, put in the position of Chief of the Military Police.

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Oswald once again took to the airwaves once the Great Purge was over:

"Soldiers! Citizens! Patriots! The crisis has passed. You may go about your daily business as usual. We have achieved this day two things: the purity of our government and the purity of our party. We have total control, once again, and the government is back in business. America, our sweet Union, is now a unitary, one-party Christian state. We have taken the next step in establishing a more perfect union. As we advance toward the End of Days and establish the New Jerusalem, remember this: One people for America. One faith for America. One army for America. Everything for America! All hail the most proletarian fascist American people!"

Johnson and King joined forces to crush all descent in the aftermath of the Great Purge. Countless "enemies of the state" were shipped to the camps in the Ohio Country. Joe Steele was not in good health during this time, and he was preparing for his "Last Crusade." He let Oswald control most of the everyday goings-on of the government while he spent his time plotting military strategies for his holy war. Nixon controlled the Party itself, and since his way of thinking was just as psychotic, if not more so, than Steele's, Steele was just fine with that. Nixon said in his first speech before the Party on July 15th, 1954:

"I'm going to continue this fight. The purge is over, but there are still infiltrators among us. I'm going to campaign up and down America until we drive the crooks and the anarchists and those that defend them out of Philadelphia!"

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Superman

October 3rd, 2013, 02:00 AM

Seems like the Soviet Union combined with the worst aspects of Nazi Germany now! :eek: I can't wait to see how TTL's "WWI" goes. :D

Napoleon53

October 3rd, 2013, 02:13 AM

Seems like the Soviet Union combined with the worst aspects of Nazi Germany now! :eek: I can't wait to see how TTL's "WWI" goes. :D

Exactly! :D

I don't think I posted these in this thread yet, so here are the banners adopted by Military Police and the Office of Racial and Religious Affairs after the Great Purge of 1954:

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Custos Morum - "Keeper of Morals"

Audi Vide Tace - "Hear, See, Be Silent"

Fubart Solman

October 3rd, 2013, 02:25 AM

I just caught up; I'm glad to see a large number of semihistorical figures because it makes the timeline relatable. Does "Leslie Lynch Jr." know "Oswald's" true identity?

Jedi_Master_Kirito

October 3rd, 2013, 02:34 AM

Excellent! For some reason, I'm getting the feeling that Oswald will still be a dictator, but will more merciful to the ethnic and religious minorities.

Zoidberg12

October 3rd, 2013, 02:36 AM

Well shits really hit the fan now. :eek: The RU's has been getting more and more insanely fascist, totalitarian and just batshit crazy by the day, and now it all reaches a climax! Genius, simply genius. We can only imagine hat happens next.....

Also, I've made great headway over the guest chapters over the past few days. They should be done in a day or two at most. :)

Also the ORRA flag looks like the flag of Puerto Rico, which is pretty ironic. Where you going for that?

Napoleon53

October 3rd, 2013, 02:51 AM

That's awesome, Zoid! :D I can't wait to read them. As for the ORRA flag; nope, no connection to 'Rico, just a basic variation of the MDP flag, ITTL. The way the eagle is positioned, it could be seen as an eagle flying forward, with the blue triangle pointing to a "More Perfect Union." :D

I just caught up; I'm glad to see a large number of semihistorical figures because it makes the timeline relatable. Does "Leslie Lynch Jr." know "Oswald's" true identity?

I agree; there are going to be plenty of fictional characters and figures, but throwing in OTL ones keeps it exciting and different. :cool: And nope, he wouldn't remember Kennedy/Oswald, since they were just little kids who met once.

Excellent! For some reason, I'm getting the feeling that Oswald will still be a dictator, but will more merciful to the ethnic and religious minorities.

Danke! :D Although I'm not too sure about that second part. ;):eek: Oswald is a raving, heartless murderer, and he thinks if he doesn't seem "uber-loyal to the Party and Faith" then people will start... questioning... his ethnicity. If anything, he thinks he needs to persecute more to seem more patriotic. :eek:

Napoleon53

October 3rd, 2013, 09:03 AM

Here we go. :eek: I'm rather pleased with how Steele's speech came out; I think it's pretty convincing as a totalitarian lunatic. The last bit of sanity in the world has broken, it's finally time to let a century-and-a-half worth of chickens come home to roost.

PREPARE FOR WAR
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"And so, by decree of First Chief Consul Steele, the flag formerly known and flown as the flag of the Republican Union is henceforth decommissioned as the flag of this our beloved nation. A new flag, based on the banner of the great Manifest Destiny Party and the flag of the Old Republic, is hereby now officially the flag of the Republican Union. The flag, with its 29 stars representing the union of the honorable states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Iowai, Nova Scotia, Chersonesus, Michigania, Vermont, Oregon, North Dakota, South Dakota, East Lewisiana, West Lewisiana, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Hawaii, the Greater American-Pacific Co-Prosperity Sphere, South Mexico, North Mexico, Durango, Texas, and Korea, will fly over all government buildings and military installations and will be known as the Star-Spangled Banner. Banners of the old Republican Union and the unique Manifest Destiny Party flags may still be flown for historical value or for Party rallies. The Restoration of our Great Country is at hand! Our Union shall be perfected! God bless America! All hail!"

-MDP Chief Minister Richard Nixon on the floor of the Capitol Building, July 4th, 1955

"This is a glorious hour!" proclaimed Steele. He was speaking at the Pittsburgh Rally Grounds, just two hours after Nixon announced the new flag before the nation. "Today, our people have remembered their proud heritage. The Star-Spangled Banner flies high over the Capitol and the Consular Mansion. It is a bitter-sweet moment. We the most proletarian and fascist American people have overcome decades of adversity and conflict, and emerged into light."

"And now, we are a strong nation. A world power. Through the will of the people, we have become one of the mightiest empires mankind has ever seen. Our factories are the most productive. Our people are happiest. We have kept the glory of the Enlightenment alive. We have shown the heathens behind the Papist Curtain that we shall not bow to the Bonapartian Papist Polocks, and that the American people stand ready to take on the world. We must purge the world in the fires of Manifest Destiny. And so, today, I have given the Tripartite Empire an ultimatum. If they do not hand over the Canadian Territories--duly owed to our forefathers for their sacrifice in the War of 1812--by the date of August the 1st, Anno Domini 1955, the full might of our army, navy, aeroforce, and people... shall be brought to bear upon not only the Territories, but also upon the nascent Kingdom of Quebec. If our demands are not met, we shall take what we want, and more, by force. We shall ruthlessly slaughter the enemies of freedom, and wipe the curse of Catholicism off the map of North America forever."

The crowd went absolutely crazy. Camera crews recording the event reported their speakers busting from the torrential hurricane of the cheers.

"Yes, my soldiers. If our demands are not met, we shall be at war. Once declared we shall not accept any plan of surrender until all of Canada and Quebec as fallen under our control. I have assurance from our allies the King of Sweden, the Kaiser of Prussia, the British republics, and all the other friends of freedom, that they shall declare war. Sweden has been the sufferer of many indignities at the hands of the Corsican Ogres and their Danish-Norwegian allies. Prussia has been disallowed from bringing the Confederation of the Rhine into its Protestant fold. They are tired of this nonsense. They are tired of the Bonapartian usurpers. My close personal friend, Kaiser Helmut Wilhelm I of Prussia, has demanded that the French fops hand over Lower Saxony, Hesse, and Thuringia, and if they do not do as such, he will have no choice but to march in and take the entirety of the Confederation. Another associate of mine, King Gustaf VI of Sweden, has announced that if Helmut Wilhelm's demands are not met, and if ours are not met, then he shall invade the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway and annex it into the Greater Swedish Rike. Our favorite Englishman, Winston Churchill, is in a position to liberate the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands and march on France!"

More wild cheers came from the army. They were finally on the verge of total holy war. Their dreams were coming true.

"We are at a momentous epoch, my soldiers. Let us pray to Almighty God for strength in the coming World Purge. War or no war, come August 1st, 1955, the world shall be changed indelibly and forever. The American eagle has cleaned its wounds. No longer does it languish, dreaming of a glorious future and a past that could have been. That glorious future is upon us today! The American Eagle is spreading its wings, and its war cry has been heard across the Earth. We will not stop, we will not desist, we will not rest, until what we want is ours. We will not stop until the cancer of Catholicism is purged from this continent forever! We shall not stop if the Southrons take the side of the Corsican Ogres, no, we shall defeat them, too! We will not stop until our armies march across this planet, an unstoppable, irresistible force. We will not stop until every fool that resists us finds his capital a pile of rubble. The American people shall march on Planet Earth, heads held high, and we shall win."

"HAIL! HAIL! HAIL!" chanted the army, now joined by ordinary citizens rushing into the stadium. "The Union Forever" was struck up by a huge orchestra. And then, a different chant was started. One that just hearing made the hairs on the back of the necks of Joseph Steele stand up. Soon, it had spread across the nation, striking pure, unadulterated terror into Canadians and Southrons. All over the country, citizens poured into the streets, waving their new flag and chanting as one:

Here we go. :eek: I'm rather pleased with how Steele's speech came out; I think it's pretty convincing as a totalitarian lunatic. The last bit of sanity in the world has broken, it's finally time to let a century-and-a-half worth of chickens come home to roost.

How are they defining Canada? Only the areas around Ontario because it used to be called Upper Canada? The Plains and islands as well? Which, if you go by OTL demographics, would have loads of Slavs. And may I suggest something I brought up long in the past? New Brunswick. The area was part of Nova Scotia IOTL until around the time Loyalists started filling in, but were not announced to have separated here in time for the treaty which only gave the island to the Americans. Seems like as good as any of a propaganda reason to reclaim more than half the land a treaty supposedly gave the Americans. As it was not all given, it could also be used as a legal excuse to nullify the past treaty if it was not handed over immediately, putting the pressure on the King of Quebec. The way the speech is given it would only require one or two sentences to be changed to throw that casus belli in.

Clandango

October 3rd, 2013, 10:01 AM

Ahh, and there is a good chance for the Danish and Norwegians to defect. The two had been moving apart during the Napoleonic Wars due to the British blockade, as well as their destruction of the Danish navy meaning they had to become French allies or be destroyed by them and the Prussians. Any chance of a uniting of the two kingdoms, with a son of the Swedish king and a daughter of the Danish one being married as King and Queen of Norway? Until such time as their parents leave their own thrones and they make court in Göteborg/Gothenburg. I look forward to the next maps made of this but may try and make my own. There are a few things in the past maps that confused me to no end.

Napoleon53

October 3rd, 2013, 10:09 AM

How are they defining Canada? Only the areas around Ontario because it used to be called Upper Canada? The Plains and islands as well? Which, if you go by OTL demographics, would have loads of Slavs. And may I suggest something I brought up long in the past? New Brunswick. The area was part of Nova Scotia IOTL until around the time Loyalists started filling in, but were not announced to have separated here in time for the treaty which only gave the island to the Americans. Seems like as good as any of a propaganda reason to reclaim more than half the land a treaty supposedly gave the Americans. As it was not all given, it could also be used as a legal excuse to nullify the past treaty if it was not handed over immediately, putting the pressure on the King of Quebec. The way the speech is given it would only require one or two sentences to be changed to throw that casus belli in.

Good question: Quebec and the Empire manage the officially titled "Canadian Territories," which is everything north of the Union except Quebec.

And that is a neat idea about New Brunswick, but Steele actually wouldn't care; he wants war. He knows Caesar isn't going to just hand over Canada. In fact, being who he is, Napoleon VI might not be willing to hand over one square foot of soil to anyone. The main tactic here is just to make it look dignified and official and what not, instead of just smashing into Canada ala OTL Barbarossa. And if they capitulate (0.01% chance), so be it, says Steele; the Union will hit them up the next year for even more land until it eventually blows up in horror. So basically, Steele doesn't care about an island, he wants a third of a continent or else. :eek: The Union has always hated that Romney Treaty from the World Congress anyway. "We deserved wayyyyyy more than puny Nova Scotia for our sacrifices."

EDIT: And as for Scandinavia: you'll just have to wait and see. ;) Even I'm not sure what's going to happen there yet.

Clandango

October 3rd, 2013, 10:16 AM

And that is a neat idea about New Brunswick, but Steele actually wouldn't care; he wants war. He knows Caesar isn't going to just hand over Canada.
More like Hitler with Poland than in not giving demands unlike earlier, when he gave ridiculous demands in order to split and weaken his neighbors? The thing is about wars that, unlike the Draka, most people use some sort of excuses for wars. Though, since the Republican Union wanted more than Hitler's Germany, it may not be entirely necessary. Any chance for secondary demagouges to go about demanding land for the Dutch, the liberation of the Protestant Swiss from their mountain prisons, or something something Vinland/Helluland/Markland? And I do imagine the Russians are mobilizing.

Napoleon53

October 3rd, 2013, 10:36 AM

More like Hitler with Poland than in not giving demands unlike earlier, when he gave ridiculous demands in order to split and weaken his neighbors? The thing is about wars that, unlike the Draka, most people use some sort of excuses for wars. Though, since the Republican Union wanted more than Hitler's Germany, it may not be entirely necessary.

Any chance for secondary demagouges to go about demanding land for the Dutch, the liberation of the Protestant Swiss from their mountain prisons, or something something Vinland/Helluland/Markland?

And I do imagine the Russians are mobilizing.

I actually haven't read any Draka stuff (I get the backstory, but don't know anything else about them). The RU is just a warmongering menace to society, as Civ 5 would say. :D

There is definitely going to be interesting stuff happening in central Europe as people look at the Union and the Balkans and realize "fascism works! Yay!" :p There'll be all kinds of nuts running around trying to copy the Union. I already showed Prussia has the Blackshirt Legion, for instance.

And you'll notice I haven't mentioned the Russians lately. I have... interesting plans for them. :D

Zoidberg12

October 4th, 2013, 01:06 AM

Wow. Well shits really hit the fan now. :eek: Finally, the moment we've all been waiting for is finally here, the climax of the whole story! :D:cool: I really should post that Joker pic again. Honestly its so much more appropriate to post it now than the two times previously.

To mark this climax, heres a map of the Madnessverse world in 1955, on the eve of war......

Superman

October 4th, 2013, 02:09 AM

Well, goodbye Madness-verse world. It was nice knowing you. :(:p

But seriously, this world is lucky it doesn't have nukes yet. Otherwise, my above statement would actually make sense.

Napoleon53

October 4th, 2013, 02:41 AM

Wow. Well shits really hit the fan now. :eek: Finally, the moment we've all been waiting for is finally here, the climax of the whole story! :D:cool: I really should post that Joker pic again. Honestly its so much more appropriate to post it now than the two times previously.

Oh, what the heck....

I know, I can't wait to write about it. :D And if ever that Joker GIF was appropriate, it's now.

To mark this climax, heres a map of the Madnessverse world in 1955, on the eve of war......

That looks perfect! :D How do you do the different shade borders evenly (representing satellites/puppets, like on California), though? I've never figured that out.

Well, goodbye Madness-verse world. It was nice knowing you. :(:p

But seriously, this world is lucky it doesn't have nukes yet. Otherwise, my above statement would actually make sense.

So what effect does exodus of the people of Mexico have on Gran Columbia?

Napoleon53

October 4th, 2013, 04:36 AM

So what effect does exodus of the people of Mexico have on Gran Columbia?

Oh, they'll be plenty terrified of the Union's aggression, that's for sure. And the Mexican population will provide a plentiful source of recruits if Gran Colombia enters the war on the CEMA side. The Union would probably love to annex GC as a final blow in "finishing what Commander Custer started!"

Clandango

October 4th, 2013, 07:16 AM

I do hope that a caste system arises in the Republican Union similar to how things were in the Spanish colonies. That way at least some people would not eat dirt.

Warpath

October 4th, 2013, 10:43 AM

I do hope that a caste system arises in the Republican Union similar to how things were in the Spanish colonies. That way at least some people would not eat dirt.

That's IF the Union survives the Great War.

Oh, I've been watching this thread for some time now, nice work Nap!;)

And please don't forget American King, I love that TL!

Go Prussia and America! Francia Delenda Est!

Clandango

October 4th, 2013, 11:24 AM

That's IF the Union survives the Great War.

Oh, I've been watching this thread for some time now, nice work Nap!;)

And please don't forget American King, I love that TL!

Go Prussia and America! Francia Delenda Est!
If there is no Republic Union it better be due to the continental union that is the United State.

Petike

October 4th, 2013, 11:52 AM

Will the RU ever be defeated ?

Please give us a ray of hope, Nap. :(
And if ever that Joker GIF was appropriate, it's now.

If I ever get to writing the bulk of the Sparrow Avengers timeline's chapters, I'm toying with the idea of posting that gif once I publish the cliffhanger chapter about the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire. :D Once the real chaos in central and eastern Europe starts, it's every man (well, successor state) for himself. The Joker would have a good giggle concerning the timeline's Disunion Wars and how messed up they became. :eek: ;)

Mumby

October 4th, 2013, 01:02 PM

Wow. The Dutch have done well.

Zachanassian

October 4th, 2013, 04:16 PM

Oh my. Goodbye Maryland, it was nice knowing you were a stable democratic independent state for over 150 years.

The real question is who does Russia side with? Will the RU hold their nose and try to ally with "Slavs" or will Joe Steele make the same mistake that Hitler made and anger the Russian bear?

Also, how far do you plan to go? Just to the end of the war? Or further, say to the present day?

Zoidberg12

October 4th, 2013, 06:29 PM

I honestly have a feeling that Russia might be its own belligerent. It has a rivalry of sorts with the Tripartite Empire, but may not be all that close to Prussia and the Protestant nations. Russia might be at war with both alliances, and it certainly has the size, manpower, resources and such to pull it off.

Avskygod0

October 4th, 2013, 07:19 PM

The fact that thye have the more populous part of China gives them extra manpower

Zoidberg12

October 4th, 2013, 07:29 PM

The fact that thye have the more populous part of China gives them extra manpower

Not to mention much Russia's larger than OTL, with land in Baluchistan giving them access to the Indian Ocean and a warm water port, oil rich land along the Pacific North West, and quite a bit of former northern Chinese land.

Napoleon53

October 4th, 2013, 10:06 PM

Oh, I've been watching this thread for some time now, nice work Nap!;)

And please don't forget American King, I love that TL!

Thanks, WP! I won't; AK will be revived. ;)

Will the RU ever be defeated ?

Please give us a ray of hope, Nap. :(

Everyone is going to end up loser in this TL. ;):eek:

Wow. The Dutch have done well.

Indeed. They've been basically sneaking around for 160 years, slowly building up.

Oh my. Goodbye Maryland, it was nice knowing you were a stable democratic independent state for over 150 years.

Also, how far do you plan to go? Just to the end of the war? Or further, say to the present day?

Maryland will suffer if they're invaded. They do have the Citadel of Columbia, still, though. It's going to be one tough slog either way.

Present day, at least. :D

Napoleon53

October 5th, 2013, 09:00 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czsb2xNSvmA

EVERY "League of Nations" member flag and anthem in 3D! :D The League of Nations is appearing in the next chapter as the combination of the Bonapartist Bloc and CEMA into one gigantic alliance. It took me about 5-6 hours to make the video, so I hope you guys like it. :cool:

Clandango

October 5th, 2013, 09:08 AM

Maryland will suffer if they're invaded. They do have the Citadel of Columbia, still, though. It's going to be one tough slog either way.
On the plus side, new flag.

Zoidberg12

October 5th, 2013, 04:18 PM

That is one awesome flag video. :cool: Will you do one for the other alliance?

I have a question. What ever happened to Charles Goodyear II? I imagine hes dead by the 1950's. Also, is there a Charles Goodyear III?

EVC

October 5th, 2013, 04:28 PM

Giant Balakanized World:eek:

J. de Vos

October 5th, 2013, 07:59 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czsb2xNSvmA

EVERY "League of Nations" member flag and anthem in 3D! :D The League of Nations is appearing in the next chapter as the combination of the Bonapartist Bloc and CEMA into one gigantic alliance. It took me about 5-6 hours to make the video, so I hope you guys like it. :cool:
Copyright:( cant view the movie.

Napoleon53

October 5th, 2013, 08:23 PM

That is one awesome flag video. :cool: Will you do one for the other alliance?

I have a question. What ever happened to Charles Goodyear II? I imagine hes dead by the 1950's. Also, is there a Charles Goodyear III?

Danke! Yep, I plan on making an enemy alliance video.

Goodyear II is about to die. Next time I cover him, I'll cover Goodyear III, who might be an officer of some sort. Thomas Edison II and III will also be appearing. :D

Giant Balakanized World:eek:

Pretty much!

Copyright:( cant view the movie.

Darn! It still plays for America at least; it says it's just blocked in "some countries." There's a way you can get around it though. I can't remember how you do it, but you can view videos blocked in your country.

traveller76

October 6th, 2013, 06:18 PM

Thinking about the violence and blood lust of the Union I came up with my own idea of a pulp hero. This has been submitted to and approved by Napoleon53.

George: What’s the matter? Afraid of guns?
Black Shadow: I’m not afraid of guns. I’m afraid of idiots with guns.

--Black Shadow Talkie Program Episode 110: A cold wind from the North

While American pulp magazines abounded with tales of mystery usually with plenty of violence and sex, one hero stood out in the 1930’s. Initially predicted to not last a year, the Black Shadow would become a cultural icon in print, cinema, talkie and picture box for over twenty years and with reprints and revivals across the world. What made him stand out from the private detectives, super heroes, war stories and adventurers was that instead of gunplay, physical strength or bloodlust the Shadow used his brain and his agility to combat his enemies without a gun. Throughout his run the Shadow never carried a firearm of any sort and refused to use one. Using his powers of hypnotism, martial arts and trickery the Black Shadow portrayed that the mind was the most powerful weapon of all

The Black Shadow background story began as follows. Born into the wealthy Mackenzie family, young Alexander Mackenzie could have had a life many would have dreamed for. However, Alex soon developed chronic asthma and required long periods of bed rest. While resting Alex became a voracious reader and with the aid of private tutors became an expert in archeology especially in the Far East. As Alex continued to grow he started a physical training regimen to build up strength and stamina. Eschewing violence as a tool for the coward and the weak willed Alex studied martial arts, especially in the style of Judo. While attending the University of Faber Alex gained the attention of his close friend Basil and sweetheart Juliet after defeating several attackers. Alex found his calling in fighting the insidious threat of crime and corruption plaguing his native Georgia.

Returning to the family estate near Atlanta after finishing his studies, Alex soon discovers an ancient art of hypnotism that can cloud people’s minds. Using his disguise as Alex Mackenzie, patron of the arts and man about town along with his wife Juliet and sidekick Basil he becomes the Black Shadow, defender of liberty from enemies foreign and domestic.

Humble Beginnings:
The Black Shadow was the creation of Henry Lewis, an illustrator and writer born in Savanna in 1887. Originally an illustrator for local newspapers, Lewis moved into the pulp market in the 20’s after growing weary of the newspaper industry. With the advancement of modern culture and the large amounts of wealth that was being produced crime novels, detective stories and adventure books flooded newsstands across the South. Lewis however was feeling uneasy regarding the violence portrayed in these books. As the father of three boys (John, Robert, Theodore) he saw the rise of violent youth gangs acting out scenes from the books. While the police and local governments curbed the worse excesses with athletic program and crackdowns the problem remained.

While reading Robin Hood to the boys one evening Lewis had an idea, a hero that used skill and smarts to defeat his enemies along with doses of Eastern mysticism, martial arts and culture to provide color. That evening he created the first stories of the Black Shadow and read it to the boys the next evening. The boys, being smaller that some of there classmates and experiencing bullying and fights at school, enjoyed how the Shadow fought bigger and stronger foes and defeated them. After creating a dozen stories for his sons he proposed the story idea to his editor at Action and Adventure Magazine. Skeptical of the idea, calling it a novelty, the editor allowed the publication of the first Black Shadow story “The Gold Dragon” in June 1929.

Success:
The June 1929 Action and Adventure Magazine entered the top ten of magazine sales by the end of June according to the trade papers. Newsstands ordered additional issues and subscriptions increased by twenty percent. A&A would start to publish the Black Shadow stories every two months with the first two part and then three part story lines being published in 1930. Lewis had secured copyrights to the Black Shadow and soon devoted himself to writing the stories. In 1936 the Columbia Broadcasting Company (CBC) would hire Lewis to work in the production of the Black Shadow Show. The talkie box program would be broadcasted on Monday evenings and would run from 1936-1949. It would launch the talkie and later cinema careers of Howard Tobin, who would become the first cinema Black Shadow and Jon Castle. The Black Shadow would become a cinema franchise in 1945 and would run till 1957. The weekly serials would later be rebroadcasted on CBC and New Entertainment Network in 1960. Henry Lewis would pass away at the age of 78 in 1965. Lewis’s sons John and Robert would continue the family tradition, creating a small animation studio and the legendary characters of Pinky and the Brain, a comedic pair of crime solving sleuths.

Overseas Reaction:
Translations of the Black Shadow into French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Russian would begin to appear in the early forties. At first unauthorized cheap copies on poor quality paper, official versions approved by Lewis would be printed and distributed by 1945. Stories that parodied authoritarian regimes like the Republican Union and the English Republics would become collector’s items. Since the Shadow professed none of the blood lust of the Union and since Lewis was a strong Catholic, the Union routinely attacked him as the “publisher of vile trash that saps the moral character of our youth”. Lewis would hold up these criticisms and the hate mail from Union supporters as “The Funny Papers” and famously wrote once “The criticism of the Shadow has deeply pained me. I cried all the way to the bank.”

Clandango

October 6th, 2013, 08:32 PM

And thus Black would be seen as positive and the N-Word would be kept around for the darker skinned underclass.

Jedi_Master_Kirito

October 6th, 2013, 11:47 PM

Excellent! So he's kind of like Batman meets the Shadow?

Napoleon53

October 7th, 2013, 05:24 AM

MANNING THE GUNS
THE WORLD BRACES FOR TOTAL WAR
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcREKgeeyes8aUkJe-dV7m2RCNsEj29UruXrMNZuY7Azcna6RzjT
Joe Steele meets with Winston Churchill, 1955

The nations that Joe Steele called the "Friends of Freedom" were in fact mostly opposed to freedom in almost every way imaginable. In 1950, protests in Wales by socialists and anarchists were brutally crushed by the State Security, and over 150 protestors were massacred. This signaled the beginning of the Welsh Resistance, who began a campaign of assassination and sabotage across Britain.

In 1954, the Scottish government banned striking, unions, and requested Imperial troops leave Fort Scotia, virtually the only building standing in the way of Scotland an easy invasion of Ireland. Napoleon VI rejected the request, and Scotland's Greer shut down diplomatic relations with Paris, communicating with Caesar only through England.

In Sweden, King Gustaf VI had taken power upon his father's death in 1950. The man was a solid supporter and friend of Prussia and the Republican Union. His constant antagonizing of Denmark-Norway's king, Frederick IX, led to concern of a possible modern "Great Northern War." In 1953, Sweden purchased 5500 Tiger II's from Prussia, considered the best landship in the world at the time. Swedish troops, resplendent in pickelhauben and dark blue, Prussian-style uniforms paraded regularly up and down Stockholm and trained for "The Big One" they were sure was coming. By the time of Steele's Ultimatum, King Gustaf informed Helmut Wilhelm I of Prussia that he could field 800,000 men for an invasion of Norway, with another 200,000 available for a possible strike on Denmark and a thrust through to the Confederation of the Rhine. With that many men and over 7000 tanks and armored vehicles, Sweden was a formidable military force, but it worried about what side Russia might take. These questions were answered in 1955 when Russia took its own side.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Gustaf_VI_Adolf_av_Sverige_som_kronprins.jpg/220px-Gustaf_VI_Adolf_av_Sverige_som_kronprins.jpg
King Gustaf VI Adolf, militarist King of Sweden

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Frederick_IX_of_Denmark.jpg/180px-Frederick_IX_of_Denmark.jpg
King Frederick IX of Denmark-Norway

Prussia and Sweden weren't without supporters in the Bonapartist Kingdom of Holland. There were citizens there they knew would welcome "liberation" from the "French oppressors." The Bonaparte Queen Louise Napoleona herself was a converted Dutch Protestant. Kaiser Helmut Wilhelm and King Gustaf both plotted possible ways to get her to switch camps, and she seemed always on the edge. In the end, Helmut Wilhelm a military invasion would be the only thing to finally make her wake up and stand with her Germano-Scandinavian Protestant brothers of the North. The Dutch Empire was huge, and had a monopoly on Southeast Asia. However, its bloody ongoing conflict in China and Indochina was not going well. In a gesture of good will, Helmut Wilhelm sent Prussian military advisers to Indochina to help get a hold of the situation. By 1955, things were going better, and several detachments of the Prussian Aeroforce gained valuable combat experience in Asia fighting next to the Dutch.

In Italy, Emperor Massimiliano was on the phone for what seemed like days at a time, screaming and shouting about how he couldn't bring brigades up from Venice to reinforce Austria-Hungary and Bohemia while the fascist Prussian-allied Greeks were amassing hordes of troops along the Ionian and Adriatic Seas, clearly aiming for Italy if war broke out.

King Dominic III of Ireland almost had a seizure at the news of Steele's ultimatum, and he withdrew his family and headquarters down into a bunker underneath the Royal Palace in Dublin. There, he and his advisers plotted a strategy for defending against an almost certain invasion by the Scots and English. Imperial and Irish troops advanced to the coast of the Irish Sea.

Caesar Napoleon VI was determined to not show weakness. He thought the only way to get Steele to back down (aside from giving up Canada, which Napoleon was certainly not going to do) was to put on a show of strength. On July 15th, representatives of all the nations tied to the League of the Three Emperors arrived in Paris. With just 16 days until Steele's ultimatum ran out, the leaders spent five of them agreeing to a new alliance. The League of the Three Emperors and the Columbian Economic and Military Alliance were absorbed into one another to form the "League of Nations."

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3800/10096923286_789aa19a60_o.gif

"Together, we have formed the League of Nations. This League, and all its member-states, dedicate themselves to defending one another from all attacks and aggressions. An attack on one nation will be seen as an attack on all. We invite all nations to join this just alliance. Together, we shall go forward to a bright future, where we shall resolve our differences in a court of international law. No longer will we destroy and level each others' cities, but we will live in harmony and peace. Join us, Free Peoples of the World. Join the League of Nations, united now, for liberty and justice!"
-Caesar Napoleon VI

The Union and its "friends of freedom" protested immediately. And by July 25th, representatives met in London to sign a new pact, calling themselves the Grand Alliance. With the last hours draining away until Steele's time limit for the Tripartite Empire ran out, Helmut Wilhelm, Gustaf, Steele, Churchill, and Greer gave a final toast before leaving for their respective countries. War was about to start for the first time since the Reign of Napoleon I.

LEAGUE OF NATIONS:

Tripartite Empire
Empire of the Two Italies
Confederation of the Rhine
United Empire of Brazil and Rio de la Plata
Kingdom of Denmark-Norway
Republic of Virginia
Republic of Georgia
Kingdom of California
Kingdom of Quebec
Republic of Maryland

Confederation of the Carolinas
Vatican State
Republic of Jamaica
Republic of Cuba

"Joe has a big mustache! Joe has a big mustache!" said the voice at the end of the wireless telephone.

The Quebecois soldier monitoring the signal fifteen miles from the Union-Canadian border bolted from his chair, frantically reaching for the telephone mounted on the wall. He quickly turned the crank and heard his superior pick up. "Joe has a big mustache! Joe has a big mustache!"

"Sacre bleu! I will alert King Pierre at once! Vive le roi!"

Just about half a minute after that phonecall, the Quebec Armed Forces were moving in to confront a Republican Union invasion.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lns4ujd2ws1qmsesco1_500.jpg
Union troops lob mortars over the Canadian border during the first hours of the war

http://i.cdn.travel.cnn.com/sites/default/files/styles/inline_image_300x400/public/2013/03/01/inline_okinawa_battle_hutton_archivegetty_images.j pg?itok=VN_hLqpU
A Union soldier looks out over the Canadian border as aeroships commence bombardment

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/5818/83653351.138/0_81684_9d8aa853_L
Canadian militia troops in khaki uniforms retreat across a bombed-out countryside

The Union Army was a well-oiled machine. Despite valiant effort, the Quebecois and Canadian armies mustered at the border were brutally defeated within 48 hours. By early August 3rd, 1955, the battered Quebecois Army was retreating into the homeland, leaving the Canadians to fend for themselves. Bombers flew over Montreal and Quebec City, and within four days, the Royal Palace had suffered severe structural damage due to falling bombs. The King's bunker below the building was dangerously close to collapsing. Over 1,500,000 Yankees were swarming the border and plunging headfirst straight forward with the goal of bringing all of the Canadian Territories under their control by October.

Groups of English-speaking Canadians worked behind the lines to sabotage the Quebecois war effort, and some even outright joined the "Free Canadian Army," consisting of about 100,000 militiamen. Massive Union aerodreadnoughts flew over the battlefields, destroying entire regiments before they could even react. Aerial landing platforms transported bombers and fighters over the rough terrain, where they deployed against forts and the meager Quebec Royal Aeroforce. By September 5th, the Royal Aeroforce was all but wiped off the face of the planet, and Union troops were strangling Montreal to death with unceasing artillery fire for miles around in every direction. On September 10th, 1955, Montreal surrendered to the Union Army, and thousands Yankee troopers marched in in triumph. The Union flag was raised over a large Canadian city for the first time since the War of 1812. Ottowa fell two days later, and heavily-fortified Toronto held out till the 20th.

King Pierre was panicking. He threw all his forces up to Trois-Rivieres and told his general staff, "Pray to God, monsieurs, that Trois-Rivieres holds. Or we are all finished. The Britishers are blocking off the North Atlantic. The Yankee Occultists envelop our western regions. There is no escape. If they break through Trois-Rivieres and reach Quebec City, I will have no choice but to surrender or go down fighting. Pray to God this does not happen."

It did. On September 28th, the 11th Legion, of Guadalajara fame, had their mechanized infantry and heavy support vehicles charge Quebecois positions just southwest of Trois-Rivieres at Yamachiche. In the brutal close-quarters fighting, over 7000 Royalist troops were killed, and over 3000 Unioners. Nevertheless, the Yankees rebounded from their losses and pushed on, clearing the way for General Matthew Reid's 5th Landship Regiment to bombard the walls of Quebec City. American paratroopers touched down on the Plains of Abraham and advanced under intense fire toward the gates. In the three weeks of the Siege of Quebec, 60,000 Union troops were killed in action, with 30,000 more wounded. Over 300 tanks from both sides sat in the streets, burning and sending pillars of black petrol fire up to the skies. 50,000 Quebecois troops were dead, with another 100,000 defenders wounded. 10,000 civilians had perished. The carnage was horrific. As the Yankee troops finally overwhelmed the gates of the city and marched into the city itself, some 1000 ethnic Slavs, supposedly escapees from the Union, were rounded up in the center of the city and shot. Homeless citizens wept in the streets as American soldiers sorted through the rubble of their homes for useful items and weapons. It was proclaimed illegal for any Quebecois to own a firearm. General Reid was installed as military governor. It took a week, but he finally found King Pierre in the catacombs of bunkers beneath the city. On October 31st, 1955, King Pierre of the House of Bonaparte was forced to abdicate his throne. The entire Quebec royal family was sent to Philadelphia to be paraded through the streets like Ancient Rome. Joe Steele said upon seeing them to Chuckie Oswald, "The mighty Bonapartes are humbled. We've put the fear of God into 'em, that's for sure. Execute Pierre's son. We don't want some messy resistance movement wanting to install that old codger's heir."

And thus, as November, 1955, arrived, the Republican Union controlled almost all of Canada and Quebec. But the occupation was just beginning, and the Southrons still remained. Another Union force was securing the Panama Canal and also crossing the border into Gran Colombia. To the west, California stood like a bear, its sizeable army positioned to invade Union territory. Steele moved General Arthur Worth to Oregon Country and ORRA Sky Marshal Lyndon Johnson to Johnson's home state of Texas to keep the Californians from trying to capture it to cut the Union off from the Mexican states. Steele and Oswald were determined to keep off all invasions on Union land. They also determined it was a good time to stir up trouble in the Reservation Lands. On November 10th, the first shipment of high-quality, rapid-fire guns was sent to the Indians.

The World War had started in North America. And it was also unfolding in the Old World, as the Kings, Emperors, and dictators made their moves across the bloody chessboard of Europe...

Warpath

October 7th, 2013, 10:32 AM

The Union Forever! Down with the Bonepartist pigs!

Well Napy, looks like its the beginning of the end for the current world order, and wow, it looks like Canada and Quebec just fell to the Republican Union.

I wonder how things are going down south...

These questions were answered in 1955 when Russia took its own side.

Oh God, don't tell me that the Russians declared war on against both the League and the Alliance!:eek:

Clandango

October 7th, 2013, 11:35 AM

I think the number's for Sweden's army... Are a bit high. Though I don't suppose all the men were fully in the army before the outbreak of war and it was just a promise the king made. Shame the Rheinbund couldn't come to terms with the Freedom lovers, as they might have gotten Jutland out of the deal. Good for the Dutch as well, as they might manage to get one or two of the French provinces given to the Rhinebund. Any chance the Swedes wouldget an island or two from the Prussians in Finland?

The start of the war seems promising. Did many think that those in the Republican Union believed in the occult? Is Yankee the term used in many countries for those of the land of Custer or do some call them Americans, Unionists, Republicans, Republican Unionists, Unioners etc? I've noticed quite a few different terms mentioned. Luckilly there shouldn't be much compalining about the term American applying to them in this world, as most other countries claimed to be Columbian. Speaking of Columbia, I do not think you should use the term Gran Columbia. It only came IOTL because of the breakup of the Republic of Colombia, with the portion that was New Granada, sans Panama, not giving up the name.

Jedi_Master_Kirito

October 7th, 2013, 02:01 PM

And thus it begins... I wonder if Colombia and California can stand against the Union, or will their fate be the same as that of Quebec and Canada?

Avskygod0

October 7th, 2013, 04:39 PM

What happened to the Turks

Napoleon53

October 7th, 2013, 07:09 PM

We only need about ten more posts before this thread reaches 1000 posts! :D Wow, time flies.

Well Napy, looks like its the beginning of the end for the current world order, and wow, it looks like Canada and Quebec just fell to the Republican Union.

Oh God, don't tell me that the Russians declared war on against both the League and the Alliance!:eek:

Yup! I'll put up a map soon, showing occupational zones. :D

We'll see about Russia in the next chapter. It'll be awesome, I can tell you that. :cool:

I think the number's for Sweden's army... Are a bit high. Though I don't suppose all the men were fully in the army before the outbreak of war and it was just a promise the king made.

The start of the war seems promising. Did many think that those in the Republican Union believed in the occult? Is Yankee the term used in many countries for those of the land of Custer or do some call them Americans, Unionists, Republicans, Republican Unionists, Unioners etc? I've noticed quite a few different terms mentioned. Luckilly there shouldn't be much compalining about the term American applying to them in this world, as most other countries claimed to be Columbian. Speaking of Columbia, I do not think you should use the term Gran Columbia. It only came IOTL because of the breakup of the Republic of Colombia, with the portion that was New Granada, sans Panama, not giving up the name.

Sweden has been preparing for this war for over a century, and it's a militaristic Prussian-style monarchy, so they'll conscript a heck of a lot of soldiers if they need to. They probably have 7 million citizens, so the numbers work, I think.

Pretty much everywhere in the world (except in places where the Union is an ally of convenience), they see the Union as occult and crazy.

The Unioners call themselves "Americans," but I try to use different terms in the context of the narration to avoid confusion (there are lots of people on here where English isn't a first language, so I try to keep it easy to understand).

I know about the origins of Gran Colombia, but in this it used to be a monarchy, and then they overthrew the king and left the name. I mainly did it because it differentiates it from "Columbians." :p

And thus it begins... I wonder if Colombia and California can stand against the Union, or will their fate be the same as that of Quebec and Canada?

California has a better chance than Colombia, IMO. The deserts and mountains shield them, while Colombia is on a bottleneck where if the Union breaches over the Isthmus, it's almost certainly too late to stop it.

What happened to the Turks

We'll see about them in Zoid's final updates on Africa and the Middle East. They'll be neutral in this war for now. Other important neutrals are the United Kingdom of Albania and Montenegro, Empire of Egypt, Kingdom of Sardinia, Peru, and Japan. Peru is hugely important because of their resources and manpower, and the UK leans to the League and is smack-dab in the middle of Greece's way. There will probably be talks in Athens of violating Albania's neutrality, ala Belgium OTL WWI. If the Greeks take the UK, they could push the Serbians and Imperials back to Dalmatia, at least, and maybe (if they get support from Bulgaria) a road to Trieste. :eek:

Clandango

October 7th, 2013, 07:47 PM

I know about the origins of Gran Colombia, but in this it used to be a monarchy, and then they overthrew the king and left the name. I mainly did it because it differentiates it from "Columbians." :p

Why not go with Lumbians and Colombos?

Avskygod0

October 9th, 2013, 12:56 PM

Serbia would probably be the first to attack Albania, since they controll Serb areas(montenegro)

Napoleon53

October 9th, 2013, 02:46 PM

http://www.nationstates.net/the_republican_union_of_america

:D

I'm trying to replicate the RU completely on NationStates. It's darkly entertaining clicking all the options Joe Steele would. :p So far I'd say it's a pretty good likeness. Still working on it.

Serbia would probably be the first to attack Albania, since they controll Serb areas(montenegro)

They do? You mean Montenegrin-majority regions? Albania owns the Montenegro, as part of its United Kingdom of Albania and Montenegro. But Serbia will be really busy trying to deflect attacks from Bulgaria and Romania (Bulgaria's main goal in the war is probably to seize Serbia).

Zoidberg12

October 9th, 2013, 09:18 PM

Here it is, the third and last Race for Africa chapter. :D While I noticed the first Africa chapter got some feedback, the second one didn't seem to get any. Honestly, I blame the end of page curse for that one. :p Well, there all on the wiki page (http://wiki.alternatehistory.com/doku.php/timelines/what_madness_is_this) if you missed them.

Next will be guest chapters on the Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East. For now, Enjoy :cool:.

By the 1890's, most all of Africa had been colonized by European powers, and most previous colonial border disputes between said powers had been resolved. With a variety of different lands subjugated, the more independent nations on the African continent were open season for a number of different European Powers, both major and minor.

THE WARS IN TRIPOLITANIA AND ABYSSINIA

The first of these wars was the Imperial-Abyssinian War. Previously, Abyssinia, also known as the Ethiopian Empire, was a quiet backwater which remained somewhat distant from European influence. This changed in the mid-1880s when the kingdom saw token backing in the forms of military advisers and weapons from the Prussian and Russian Empires. Prussia propped up the African kingdom due to her rivalry with France-Spain (known unofficially by the 1890's as simply "the Empire" due to her large size and imminent expansion via personal union with Austria-Hungary), while Russia felt closely tied to Abyssinia due to their dual Orthodox religious identity. This dual backing caused some tensions between the two empires and the Franco-Spanish Empire, which had her eyes on Abyssinia around that same time. However in the end, the later knew how to take proper advantage of the situation.

In early 1891, a number of minor skirmishes took place between Abyssinian and Franco-Spanish armies in Somalia. "The Empire" used this to their advantage by sending an ultimatum to Abyssinian Emperor Yohannes IV*, which he promptly refused due to the documents disfavor towards Abyssinia's independent status. France-Spain then declared war on Abyssinia on May 6, 1891. Almost immediately, men from all over France, Spain, and even Austria, Hungary, Bohemia and the Illyrian Provinces, some of them men from the Imperial Foreign Legion, came to fight in this seemingly exotic land. Thus, with a large amount of men and resources at her disposal, the armies of France-Spain won victory after victory, with the Ethiopians only making Pyrrhic successes, if that. Finally, on August 29, 1891, with the men of the Foreign Legion and other infantry and artillery units bombarding the walls of Addis Ababa, the Emperor came to his senses and surrendered. Abyssinia officially became a Franco-Spanish Protectorate on September 3, 1891. It should finally be noted that just two months later, the border between the new colony of Franco-Spanish North-East Africa and the Prussian Congo was finally agreed upon as being the portion of the Nile River under the Khedive of Egypt. This final settlement of the border between the two powers' colonies cooled relations between them for quite some time.

(*The Mahdist War never happens ITTL, so Yohannes IV is still Emperor of Ethiopia)

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2042/2206240879_f94088fe9b.jpg
Abyssinian depiction of a battle from the Imperial-Abyssinian War

Next came the Tripolitanian War. Ever since her conquest of the southern Swahili city states the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, under Prime Minister and former colonial war hero Giuseppe Garibaldi, desired to expand her empire further. By this time the colony of Sicilian East Africa had been mostly settled, and now it was time for more. They thought perhaps a slice of the Barbary states from the "sick man of Europe" wouldn't be a bad idea, and France-Spain agreed with this consensus, as they would much rather have the declining Ottoman Empire's puppets in the hands of a friend instead of potential enemy. Not to mention, "The (soon to be officially) Empire" had been in a bitter dispute with the Ottoman Empire as to the status of the remaining Barbary states, Tunis and Tripolitania, and in 1890 promised to the Two Sicilies that they would eventually get some land form the Ottomans. The same promise was made to Sardinia, in an effort to foster better relations with the small, isolationist island kingdom. Two years later, the Empire sent a treaty forcing the Turks to allow them, the Two Sicilies, and Sardinia to jointly occupy Tunis and Tripolitania, with local Ottoman backed rulers still in control. The Turks blatantly refused. This would eventually prove to be a grave mistake.

The Tripolitanian War then officially began on September 24th, 1892. The Two Sicilies and Sardinia immediately landed troops, propped up by Imperial weapons as well as Imperial and international mercenaries, on the shores of Northern Africa. The war began with landings on the ports of Tunis, Medenine, Tripoli, Misratah and Benghazi, all of which were rather impressive victories for the Italians, having caught the Turkish and Arab defenders completely off guard. However after the initial victories, the armies came to a halt as they got farther away from the coast, with the enemy armies resorting to guerrilla warfare (which proved very successful for them due to their superior knowledge of the terrain). With that, a seemingly endless stalemate came about between the Italians and Turks/Arabs.

Despite this, during the first days of the war, an unlikely ally went into secret negotiations with the Empire and Italians about joining the war; the proto-fascist Republic of Greece, a nation whose relations with the Empire had been cordial yet tense to say the least. It is not known exactly what happened during these negotiations, but it was agreed on that Greece, still under the authoritarian and aging Lavrenitos Marinos, would have a piece of the Maghreb pie. So, Greece entered the war on October 19th, 1892, creating a new "Triple Alliance" with Sardinia and the Two Sicilies. While the new Greek reinforcements did manage to help the Italians win a few more battles, the war still remained a stalemate for the most part throughout the end of 1892 and the beginning of 1893. However in the spring of 1893, the Empire agreed to send more reinforcements, which boosted the Alliance's armies and a gradual trend of more successes emerged. By summer, almost every battle against the Ottomans and Arabs was a success once again; the Ottoman army was now badly equipped and with reinforcements from home being too little too late. As if that wasn't enough, one event would soon change everything about the war and bring it to an abrupt and unexpected end.

Throughout the summer of 1893, Sultan Isma'il Pasha of Egypt, an Ottoman puppet, looked on the events just next door very worryingly. If the Italians and Greeks would conquer those territories, what would stop them from subjugating Egypt? Then on August 8, 1893, Isma'il Pasha, as well as his advisers and top generals, declared Egypt, "a new nation and empire, completely independent from Ottoman influence". Almost immediately pro-Ottoman loyalists were violently purged, most of them arrested and then executed en masse. Back in Istanbul, Sultan Abdul Hamid II was furious, but there was nothing he could do. Only a month later, Tunis would be completely occupied and Tripolitania was almost completely occupied as well, save for many inland areas which proved difficult for the European soldiers to trek through. With Tunis and Tripolitania occupied by the Triple Alliance, and the Ottoman armies exhausted of nearly all their resources and morale, the Sultan was forced to come to the negotiating table. On October 17, 1893, the Treaty of Malta was singed, recognizing Tunis as a Sardinian colony (Sardinian Tunisia), Tripolitania and Fezzan as Sicilian colonies (Sicilian Libya), and Cyrenaica as a Greek colony (Greek Cyrenaica), with the pro-Turkish governments in all these lands being declared defunct. Another important part of the Treaty was the recognition of the "Egyptian Empire" under their new "Sultan-Emperor" Isma'il I. Egypt would later be an important regional power in the Middle East, and a relatively modernized nation by the mid-20th century. Meanwhile, the advent of Greek Cyrenaica would be a particularly violent consequence of the Alliance's victory. Over the next few years, the proto-fascist Greek government aggressively encouraged ethnic Greek settlement into the colony, so that in Marinos' words; "The Greek's can regain the lands of our ancient forefathers and also gain new lands for our people to grow prosperous from". During the 1900s and 1910s, the Greek government would actively persecute the native Arabs, with massacres of cities, forced conversions to Greek Orthodoxy and other atrocities not uncommon. By 1940, native Arabs only made up about 45% of the colony's population.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/Flag_of_Egypt_%281922%E2%80%931958%29.svg/220px-Flag_of_Egypt_%281922%E2%80%931958%29.svg.png
Flag of the Egyptian Empire

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Ismail_Pacha.JPG/220px-Ismail_Pacha.JPG
Isma'il I, the first Sultan-Emperor of Egypt and Sudan (1893-1895)

THE SUBJUGATION OF MADAGASCAR AND MOROCCO

Throughout the 1890's, Prussia had colonized a number of small islands in the southern Indian Ocean, and had also founded a number of trading posts in the southern part of Madagascar in an effort to increase her influence in the general area. This did not sit well with the Tripartite Empire, who had had cozy relations (particularity mercantile and business relations) with the local Merina Kingdom since the 1880's. The dispute lasted until 1896, when the Merina Monarchy officially became an Imperial protectorate after a compromise was reached between the Merina Queen Ranavalona III and the leaders of the Imperial militias and mercantile traders, where the Merina monarchy would be under French suzerainty in exchange for increased mercantile benefits from the empire. The island was then immediately divided between between the Imperial protected Merina kingdom and Prussia, with Prussia gaining the south of the island.

Meanwhile, another nation falling under Imperial mercantile and business interests was the Kingdom of Morocco, beginning in the early 1890s. These relations continued to grow stronger and stronger over the years, and then trouble arose in 1899 when rebellion broke out against Morocco's young and somewhat pro-European Sultan Abdelaziz. After the massacre of a number of Hungarian merchants in Tinzit on November 19, 1899 by anti-European rebels, the Empire decided the time was right to react. The Empire gave further support to Sultan Abdelaziz and sent a number of Foreign Legion and Zouve units to help put down the rebellions against him. The rebellions were completely over by the summer of 1901, all the while the Empire was negotiating with the Sultan to submit and become have Morocco become an Imperial protectorate, with him still in power. After some thought, he agreed and on December 30, 1901, Morocco officially became a protectorate of the Tripartite Empire.

THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH OF LIBERIA, THE KINGDOM OF SOUTH AFRICA, AND MORE

By the early 1900’s, one medium sized portion of north western Africa remained oddly contested between the Empire, Italy and Denmark-Norway. After some talks between these three powers, it was agreed that a neutral power should take control of the land, as none of the three could agree on how to divide it properly between themselves. Sweden was one possibility, but none of them wanted to see a Prussian-allied nation gain a foothold in Africa. The Commonwealth of England was yet another, but the Empire was not yet comfortable with the prospect. Meanwhile, Lucca and Piombino, Ireland, Scotland and Wales all quarreled with each other over whether they would have the land or not. In the end, Caesar Napoleon III decided that the nation who would be willing to pay the most for the land could have it. That nation would turn out to be the Republican Union.

On October 24, 1902, some months after hearing about the "African Land Sale", First Chief Consul Custer sent a personal letter to Napoleon III asking for the "unclaimed wilderness" and promising to pay a hefty sum for it (with the money needed mostly gained from the sale of resources from the Union's new possessions in Central America) to all three nations currently contesting it. Napoleon III somewhat reluctantly agreed, and on October 31, 1902, a treaty was signed between diplomats from both nations in Halifax, in which the Empire and her allies officially recognized the RU's ownership of the land. With that, the Republican Union officially joined the Race for Africa. Almost immediately after the treaties signing, settlers, adventurers and military units came pouring in from across the Atlantic. The "American Commonwealth of Liberia" (named as such so it would not be seen as a colony, despite the fact that, no matter what the RU said, it was a colony) was officially established on November 14, 1902 with the founding of the colony's first settlement of "Custersville" (OTL's Monrovia). Custersville also served as the colony's capital, with American general Leonard Wood as the colonies first governor.

As it would turn out, Liberia would be one of the most infamous episodes of the Race for Africa. While inhumane practices such as subjecting the natives to forced labor, harmful indoctrination of western ideals and subjecting natives to appearing in human zoos were not uncommon in most European colonies, the Union's colony of Liberia took it to a whole new level. As a first measure for securing control of the new land, Governor Wood and the rest of the Union's colonial government decided the natives in "Liberia" needed be to shown who were their new master was by any means necessary. A slew of military units were deployed into the remote wilderness and stationed in as many tribal villages as possible. Those tribes who obeyed were closely monitored, but left alone otherwise. Those that did not had the whole of their villages burned to the ground, the survivors arrested and sent to makeshift military prisons. Next, Governor Wood decided to protect the new settlers from any possible dangers, and ordered a number of military and militia units to protect as many bands of settlers as his men could find. Finally, Wood decided to control the natives through the word of God. Hundreds of AFC missionaries were sent from the new settlements and from the Union itself to the tribal villages to preach "the American Fundamentalist word of God". A large number of natives did end up converting to the AFC, while those who did not either had their villages turned into human zoos (much like what would be later done in Korea), or were put into new "American Boarding Schools" were "American" ideals were forcefully and violently indoctrinated into the natives.

These schools also served the purpose for justifying the colony's existence in the first place, and as Custer famously said at a speech on New Years Eve of 1902; "The Commonwealth of Liberia serves the purpose of bringing the black African into the fold of Protestant American Civilization. We have many an African-American living in our nation, so why should we not bring some of their distant relatives into our glorious nation?" However, this consensus was far from the truth. Not only were the natives badly mistreated in the "boarding schools" but most natives never experienced the "American Dream", but did menial jobs or forms of hard labor. However, only relatively few native Africans were put into hard labor. Most of the hard labor in the colony was done by Slavic, Irish, Italian, Mexican, Korean and Pacific Islander laborers, deported from their respective homes and imported to a new land to work in grueling, disease-infested work conditions. For those who had previously been laborers, these conditions were far worse then their original jobs in the factories, due to the hot climate, easy spread of diseases and just working in an even more unclean environment in general. They worked in factories, plantations and labor camps which all existed to take advantage of the colonies rich resources. By 1910, the colony was under complete Union control. The Office of Racial and Religious Affairs had a number of stations in different settlements, many young natives joined the Custer Youth Brigade, most all natives abandoned their animist past and joined the AFC, and images and propaganda posters glorifying First Chief Consul Custer (and to a lesser extent Second Chief Consul Bryan) were hung in several places, mostly in settlements, villages and along desolate roads.

Nevertheless, the Union failed to keep the brutality of their practices in Liberia completely under wraps. In fact, these practices would be described in detail in the 1909 novel anti-imperialist expose The Jungle, written by Finnish author and journalist Aatos Roope Seppänen, who had lived in the colony for a number of years previously. The novel was a big success in Europe, and remained popular amongst the anti-imperialist thinkers and common folk alike. Virginian anti-Imperialist author, humorist and politician Samuel Clemens claimed it was "the best novel of the decade". Naturally, it was banned in the Union and was famously lampooned by Charles Goodyear II as "cheap anti-Christian lies and propaganda from an otherwise holy protestant nation".

In Dutch South Africa, a growing number of Afrikaners continued to call on the mother country for a greater level of autonomy, the number of those wanting so increasing more and more over the years. Finally, Holland's King Louis Napoleon II, as well as several of his advisers, decided the time had finally come to give the Afrikaners some self rule. On September 20th, 1901, Louis Napoleon II announced that in a years time "our brothers in southern Africa will have a self ruling government tied closely to our monarchy and state". As such on May 17th, 1902, the Kingdom of South Africa was declared with Louis Napoleon II as its monarch, while the nation elected its own "self-ruling government" from the capital in Lodewijksville (OTL's Johannesburg). At first however, only the more populated southerly regions of Dutch Southern Africa were a part of the kingdom. The more northerly, less populated land remained a Dutch colony due to the low white population. It would later join the kingdom in 1918 after some more settlement. Meanwhile, tensions with the natives remained tense, though as long as blacks were de-facto second class citizens, neither Louis Napoleon II nor the Prime Minister of South Africa Andrius Botha had any reason to complain.

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/z/za-orang.gif

Flag of the Kingdom of South Africa

In Portuguese Middle-Africa, the Luanda-Muenda railroad was completed by late-1896 after over six long years of construction, and was officially launched on January 1, 1897. It should be noted that the railroad was the first of its kind on the African continent to span from coast to coast. The Empire and Prussia both attempted to build their own similar "coast to coast" railroads, but in the end, neither of their plans ever got off the ground.

CONCLUSION

By the 1910s and 1920s, all of Africa had been colonized by western powers, and the Race for Africa was officially over. Yet the effects of foreign imperialism would always be felt by the people of Africa, for better or worse. The debate on the effects of Imperialism continued for years to come. Many argued it brought much needed western values to the African people, while others argued that such values were violently and unnecessarily forced on the African people. As Georgian historian and journalist Abraham Johnson said famously in the intro to his 2006 book "The Hearts of Darkness"; "The natives of Africa were mistreated, some more brutally then others, but still, what difference does it make? Almost no westerner had any true respect for the African that went any farther than a paternalistic sense of duty to 'civilize' them to their standards of living. They never viewed them as equal, and that is the most important aspect to understand."

AddisonTheIndomitable

October 9th, 2013, 09:41 PM

snip

Very interesting, why is Liberia still called Liberia in TTL, is there any reason for it to be the same/different?

Zoidberg12

October 9th, 2013, 10:00 PM

Very interesting, why is Liberia still called Liberia in TTL, is there any reason for it to be the same/different?

I believe Napo mentioned to me via PM it would be called Liberia, so I just rolled with it. :)

AddisonTheIndomitable

October 10th, 2013, 12:31 AM

I believe Napo mentioned to me via PM it would be called Liberia, so I just rolled with it. :)

What about other place names? Would Monrovia be still called that?

Zoidberg12

October 10th, 2013, 12:40 AM

What about other place names? Would Monrovia be still called that?

I mentioned in the update that "Custersville" was TTL's analog for Monrovia.

AddisonTheIndomitable

October 10th, 2013, 04:03 AM

I mentioned in the update that "Custersville" was TTL's analog for Monrovia.

Custerton or even Custria would be rather cool, perhaps it's a bit too late, but if you would consider renaming Liberia, what would your options be?

EDIT: Considering some early toponyms before Monrovia was chosen, Custropolis could work too.

Napoleon53

October 10th, 2013, 04:23 AM

Custerton or even Custria would be rather cool, perhaps it's a bit too late, but if you would consider renaming Liberia, what would your options be?

EDIT: Considering some early toponyms before Monrovia was chosen, Custropolis could work too.

I have plans for the Liberia name, but I do like the sound of that. Perhaps when I show the Pacific Islands owned by the Union in the war chapters, I'll say one of the largest cities is named Custria. :D Perhaps Majuro.